ELCA NEWS SERVICE

April 9, 2009  

ELCA Presiding Bishop Asks Iranians to Release Concordia College Graduate
09-089-JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and president
of the Lutheran World Federation, wrote to the Iranian government
April 9 and asked for the release of Roxana Saberi.  Saberi is a
journalist and graduate of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.
She is being held in a Tehran prison, charged April 8 with
espionage.
     Hanson noted in his letter that "in the conversations our
church has been privileged to engage around our shared Abrahamic
heritage, we have learned that the light of truth is important
for both Islam and Christianity. I understand that your culture
and government takes a different approach than our own to the
vocation of journalism and reporting."
     Saberi was born in the United States and grew up in Fargo,
N.D., with her Iranian father and Japanese mother. Six years ago
she moved to Iran, where she has filed news reports for National
Public Radio, BBC and others. An Iranian official said that since
Iran revoked her press credentials in 2006, her work constituted
spying.
     Saberi was arrested by Iranian authorities in January and
put into Evin prison in Tehran. Spy charges were filed against
her by Tehran's deputy prosecutor.  Her case is now in the hands
of an Islamic revolutionary court.
     Hanson joined U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), who is an ELCA member, and a number
of friends, concerned people and journalists who have called for
Saberi's release.
     Concordia College is one of 28 ELCA colleges and universities.
Saberi is scheduled to be the college's commencement speaker
May 3.
     In his letter to Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations
Mohammad Khazaei, Hanson said, "I respectfully and strongly advocate
for her release so she may be reunited with her family in this
holy season."
     "Our culture has grown to value journalists as agents of
truth and to give them latitude for investigation and
truth-telling," Hanson said. "Therefore, in addition to our
call to advocate for persons in prison, I am called to advocate
for the freedom of journalists who are not engaging in espionage
but only trying to discover the truth of a given matter.
Descendents of Abraham are seekers of truth."
     Hanson wrote that he understands the situation involving
Saberi comes at a time when there are difficult issues between
the governments of the United States and Iran.  It is also a
time for "renewed optimism for a more constructive, shared
future," he wrote.
     "On the sure foundation of the merciful God we both worship,
I pray that the merciful gesture of Iranian authorities returning
a daughter to her parents will in this holy season lead to a
reciprocal gesture of relationship from leaders in our own
country," Hanson's letter concluded.

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