This weekend the AssociatedPress reported that an "American journalist jailed in Iran has beenconvicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison... dashing any hopesfor her quick release." The report went on to say "Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-olddual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initiallyaccused of working without press credentials. But earlier this month, anIranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation, charging her with spyingfor the United States." And now she has been givenan eight year sentence. Not what anyone had hoped for? This sentence is a huge disappointment.
Compare that eight yearsentence for spying in Iranto the life sentences given by the US to five Cubans for spying. In both trials there is great concern aboutthe legitimacy of the convictions and the fairness of the trial.
The President's trip andthis situation in Iran asksus to consider our position regarding the five Cubans found guilty of spying inthe United States in a Miami court.
I met with the Moderator ofthe Presbyterian Church in Cuba,Reinerio Arce, on Friday. This was a long-planned trip that became more timelyas our president makes some shifts regarding our relationship with Cuba. Cuba is oftenthought of as anti-religious – an assumption Dr. Reinerio says does not reflecthis experience. He says that there is freedom and vigor in his church in Cuba. Among theconcerns Dr. Reinerio raised regarding American-Cuban relations is a concernfor the Cuban Five and their sentences here in the United States.
In the President'sCaribbean trip U.S. relationswith Cubaare a major focus. Raul Castro has brought the Cuban Five into the spotlight bycalling for their release. The Cuban version is that the Cuban Five are part ofa team sent by Cuba to Miami to gather information about who had been waging acampaign of political violence against civilians in Cuba. It is said that theCuban team had infiltrated Cuban-American groups in Miami,believed by Cuba to beplotting and executing political violence in Cuba. Cuba claims that the Five providedthe Federal Bureau of Investigations with the names and whereabouts of suchsuspected perpetrators. But the FBI arrested the Cuban Five in1998. On June 8, 2001, they were convicted and each sentenced to lifesentences.
Now Cuban President RaulCastro is calling for their release. It's a big deal for Cubans just likeRoxana Saberi's conviction should be a big deal to us in the US. But the caseof the Cuban Five should also be a big deal to us as well, because of what it saysabout American justice.
The United Nations HumanRights Commission noted that a climate ofbias and prejudice in Miamisurrounded their trial. In 2005a US appeals court overturned the convictions of the five Cubans and said "pervasiveprejudice against the Government of President Fidel Castro had prevented themfrom getting a fair trial in Miami." But in 2008 another US appeals court upheld theconvictions of five Cubans. The United States Supreme Court is expected torule later this year about the Miami court'saction in forcing the trial in Miami. Ten Nobel Prize winners have submitted amicuscuriae briefs asking the Supreme Court to review the case.
Whatever the Supreme Courtoutcome, the question of sentence length is before us. The 2008 US appeals court which upheld the convictionsalso said the sentences should be reconsidered. What do you think? Spying: lifesentence here—eight years in Iran?
