It took a solid week after her detention in St. Louis, but Marzieh
Hashemi, an anchor for Iran’s PressTV and an American citizen, has
finally gotten into a courtroom, and learned that she is neither being accused of any crimes nor is she facing any charges. That said, they’re not expecting to let her go any time soon.
Hashemi is being held as a witness for a grand jury. Federal law
technically allows such detention if a judge is convinced the person
might not testify willingly, though legal experts have noted this is a
tactic that has faced little legal challenge in the past, and might not
stand up to a serious case. Hashemi does not finally have an attorney.
The law that allows for these detentions is meant to be very limited in
use, and very temporary, with the detainee supposed to be released
immediately after they are deposed. It is unclear, however, when they
actually intend to depose Ms. Hashemi, and the early impression is that
the detention may take some time.
The court order on her detention is not revealing what she is being sought to testify upon, either. Reuters, however, quoted
a US government source who claimed that the grand jury is investigating
PressTV itself over charges that the station engages in “propaganda”
and should be forced to register as an agent of a foreign government.
Under President Trump, the Justice Department has been keen to go after
foreign media it views as unfriendly with this tactic. In late 2017,
they forced Russia’s RT to register as a foreign agent. The
administration was keen at the time to emphasize its hostility toward
Russia, and now with the focus on Iran, it seems PressTV is facing the
same tactic, with the detention of an American citizen involved with the
channel just the latest escalation.
Press organizations have shown some criticism for the US detention of
Hashemi, although many of them seem to feel the need to include a caveat
that Iran has also detained journalists at times. This seems neither
here nor there with regard to the Hashemi case, however, as the US
Constitution nominally guarantees freedom of the press, and the
detention of any journalist by the US government, particularly an
open-ended detention without charges, is a troubling precedent that
stands on its own.
Another criminal act by the FBI. Or,,,did BiBi whisper something in Prez. Trumps ear,,or maybe Kushner???
Jay, I thought you had no problem with us “detaining” people without charges? Send her to GITMO should be your rallying cry.
Marzieh Hashemi is a US citizen. Her constitutional rights are clearly being violated. ACLU, do your thing or I will take that f-ing card out of my wallet and never give you another nickel. “Propaganda” my ass. Might just be the truth PressTV is peddling, about 9/11, about the wars, about Israel.
The USA seems to have becum truth challenged… &&&&, Why her, an Afro American lady of color… Seems misguided and petty… “Everything we say is true, but everything YOU say is propaganda..”. Sounds like the definition of beauty… Beauty (propaganda?) is in the eye (ear) of the beholder.
“Propaganda is information that is not objective and is used primarily to influence an audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded language to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is … Wikipedia’s devotion of propaganda.. Gotta love it: the crime: Speech to produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is”. IN THE TIMES OF TRUMP….!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can’t make stuff like this up. No one would believe you…..!!!!!
The Constitution is in tatters Tom. Almost every one of those Bill of Rights 10 Amendments are routinely violated. Heck, a few years ago I noticed that a number of schools were teaching that we Americans were lucky because the government gave us rights.
Rights are ours. The government cannot give something that is already ours. Something has gone seriously wrong.
Just another citizen engaging in ThoughtCrime, so clearly locking her up indefinitely is the only solution. Or maybe the crime is that she has something to do with another organization which may be doing something imperfectly, because guilt-by-association is good enough for us. What a relief that American news outlets are so balanced as to point out that the US respects freedom of the press about as much as Iran. It’s the “they’re bad too” defense / red herring.
Propaganda became a crime when????? Every day 89% of speech by American politicians could meet Wikipedias devotion of propaganda, but they never seem to be charged with a crime…!!!!! What’s going on here…????????
America/Israel are the authors and masters of propaganda.