Press TV Anchor's Arrest Displays US Fight against Freedom of Speech

"There is no evidence against Marzieh Hashemi and therefore, her arrest means battle against freedom of speech in the US," Butt told FNA on Wednesday.

He added that Washington which claims to be an advocate of human rights and freedom of media in the world has acted against its claims and arrested Hashemi.

Butt called for the immediate freedom of Hashemi, saying, "Detention of journalists will endanger freedom of the media and therefore, Hashemi should not remain in jail any more."

Hashemi, a 59-year-old American-born Muslim convert who has been living in Iran for years, was detained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri on January 13 while she was in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.

She was transferred to a detention facility in Washington DC, where she was forced to remove her hijab and only offered food not permissible under her Islamic values.

After days of silence, the US government confirmed on Friday that it was holding Hashemi in jail as a “material witness,” and that she would be released after she testified before a grand jury. She appeared in court on Friday for the second time for a hearing session, and is slated to appear before the jury for a third time on Wednesday, January 23.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani denounced the illegal detention of Press TV’s anchor, and expressed regret over increasing violation of human rights by the United States and Western countries.

Addressing a meeting with senior Iranian judiciary officials, Amoli Larijani added that it is quite clear that the US and West were using the issue of human rights as a tool.

"In the recent case, they claim that this journalist has been detained as a 'witness'. This is the first time that I hear a country detains its own national - who is only a witness - in her own homeland without there being any fear about her possible flight from the country," he said.

Amoli Larijani said the US judicial system was responsible for any possible harm to Hashemi, adding that the US' problem with the Iranian journalist was that she defended the Islamic Revolution in Iran and criticized the United States' crimes in different parts of the world.

The Iranian judiciary chief also ordered the country's prosecutor general to take all necessary measures to defend Hashemi's rights and secure her release.

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