(NOTE: From e-newspaper so no link)
A prominent American anchorwoman on Iranian state television has been arrested by the FBI during a visit to the U.S., the broadcaster reported Wednesday, and her son said she was being held in a prison, apparently as a material witness.
Marzieh Hashemi, who worked for the network’s English-language service, was detained in St. Louis, where she had filmed a Black Lives Matter documentary after visiting relatives in the New Orleans area. She was then taken to Washington, according to her elder son, Hossein Hashemi.
The FBI said in an email that it had no comment on the arrest of the woman who was born Melanie Franklin of New Orleans and has worked for Iran’s state television network for 25 years. She lives about half the time in Colorado, where her children live, and half the time in Iran, according to a brother.
“We still have no idea what’s going on,” said Hossein Hashemi, a research fellow at the University of Colorado who was interviewed by phone from Washington. He also said he and his siblings had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.
The incident comes as Iran faces increasing criticism of its own arrests of dual nationals and other people with Western ties. Those cases have previously been used as bargaining chips in negotiations with world powers.
Federal law allows judges to order witnesses to be arrested and detained if the government can prove their testimony has extraordinary value for a criminal case and that they would be a flight risk and unlikely to respond to a subpoena. The statute generally requires that witnesses be promptly released once they are deposed.
Hossein Hashemi said his mother, an American citizen, had not been contacted by the FBI before she was detained and would “absolutely” have been willing to cooperate with the agency.
Asked whether his mother had been involved in any criminal activity or knew anyone who might be implicated in a crime, Hashemi said, “We don’t have any information along those lines.”
Hashemi was arrested after arriving Sunday at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, according to Iran’s Press TV, which aired footage of her anchoring news programs and discussing the war in Syria, set to dramatic music.
Last week, Iran confirmed it is holding Navy veteran Michael White of Imperial Beach at a prison, making him the first American known to be detained under President Donald Trump’s administration.
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