Iran newspapers, official criticize US arrest of newscaster

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian hard-line newspapers and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are criticizing the arrest in the U.S. of an American anchorwoman from Iran’s state-run English-language TV channel.

This undated photo provided by Iranian state television’s English-language service, Press TV, shows American-born news anchor Marzieh Hashemi at studio in Tehran, Iran. The elder son of Hashemi says his mother is being held in the United States, but has not been charged with anything. Hussein Hashemi says she was detained Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019, as she was leaving St. Louis for Denver. He says she had filmed a Black Lives Matter documentary in St. Louis after visiting family in New Orleans. (Press TV via AP)

The hard-line Vatan-e Emrooz paper on Thursday criticized the detention of Press TV’s Marzieh Hashemi as “Saudi-style behavior with a critical journalist.” That’s a reference to the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Zarif told Press TV that “we have a right to continue to look after her interests” as Hashemi, born Melanie Franklin in New Orleans, also holds Iranian citizenship.

Iranian law, however, does not recognize dual nationalities, which often comes up in Iranian arrests of those with Western ties.

Hashemi’s son says she’s being held on a material witness warrant after the FBI arrested her./gsg