How Roxana Gave Ahmadinejad Credit

Roxana Saberi’s release and a verdict cut from an 8-year sentence to 2 years of suspended imprisonment were called a heartening act by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, Saberi’s lawyer claimed that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s efforts facilitated Saberi’s release. On the brink of elections, there are also rumors that imprisoned blogger Hosein Derakhshan may be also freed.

In the past days, some speculated that with the presidential election approaching, Saberi and Derakhshan could be used as tools by Ahmadinejad to achieve political objectives. In fact, while other presidential candidates, who are all critical of Ahmadinejad’s presidency, have been running their campaign in different provinces and universities, with an intelligent move and while he appears less on the television these days, Ahmadinejad took effective steps to take a lead.

The news of Saberi’s release was announced by Abdossamad Khorramshahi, Saberi’s lawyer who said that Ahmadinejad’s letter to the judiciary was particularly effective and it was after this letter that the court studied her case with more carefulness and ordered her release. His remarks imply that less care had been exercised before Ahmadinejad’s letter.

Though according to the court’s verdict, Saberi will be banned from working as a journalist for five years, but she staying or leaving Iran is her choice.

Saberi will leave for America soon according to her family, but definitely she will never forget the impact of Ahmadinejad’s letter on her release. That is a two-way street however, and the effect of Saberi’s release on judgments about Ahmadinejad can not be also denied. Roxana may know to what extent she improves the Iranian president’s image for Americans. The deal was at its core a give-and-take that was heartening for both sides.

Swiss ambassador’s efforts were also helpful for Roxana Saberi. But the ambassador, whose country handles United States’ interests in Iran, knows well that Saberi’s case would have another fate had no backstage deals been made. If an evenhanded intermediary, Switzerland must quickly take Iran’s message to United States, just as it was quick in informing Americans about Saberi’s release, though Clinton’s remarks show that she has grasped the significance of Iran’s gesture.

The White House also said President Obama was relieved to learn that Saberi had been released, and that the president looked forward to welcoming her back to the United States. In his daily press briefing on May 11, presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs stated that "We want to stress that she was wrongly accused. But we welcome this humanitarian gesture." He added "We will continue to press for the safe return of all American citizens detained in Iran, including Esha Momeni."

Meanwhile, critiques of the ninth administration who do not want to see Ahmadinejad as president for another term are concerned that Saberi’s release would become a propaganda tool for gaining United States consent and turning public opinion in favor of the government.

There are even speculations that to construct a new image of Iran’s political sphere and give the government enough credit to sit at the table of negotiations with West, Hosein Derakhshan, Iranian famous blogger who last year returned to Iran from Canada (and has in his record a visit to Israel) will be freed. This would be an undeniably effective measure that would pave the way to success for Ahmadinejad and his administration.