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‘US wants to drag out Marzieh Hashemi's case’

Tuesday, 22 January 2019 9:29 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 23 January 2019 8:01 PM ]

Iranians hold banners bearing messages that call for the release of US-born journalist Marzieh Hashemi, in front of the Swiss Embassy in the capital, Tehran, on January 20, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The United States seeks to prolong the case of Press TV’s anchor Marzieh Hashemi, who has been arrested for unspecified reasons in the US, says a commentator.

Hashemi, a 59-year-old American-born Muslim convert who has lived in Iran for years, was detained at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri last Sunday while she was in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.

David William Pear, a political columnist, told Press TV on Tuesday that “the [American] authorities want to drag... [Hashemi’s case] out” and that “they want to show that they can do whatever they want to do.”

“The state of things here in the US now is that they can keep everything secret from us. They don’t have to reveal to the public what is going on. They have secret courts, they have secret trials, they have secret prisons, they even have secret laws,” Pear said.

Another columnist, Wilmer Leon, told Press TV that fear is rampant in the US, but basic rights have to be pursued nevertheless.

“There is a certain level of fear in this country and we know that the only way that you could really address issues like this (Hashemi’s arrest) is for people to put their fear aside and to speak truth to power,” Leon said.