The parents of Roxana Saberi, the freelance journalist sentenced to eights years for espionage in Tehran, have visited their daughter in the Iranian capital for the first time since the verdict was dished out at the weekend. The 31 year old was originally arrested for buying a bottle of wine. Her subsequent one day trial puts yet more strain on a crucial few months for US-Iran relations, but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has pressed for an early appeal trial. There’s a Facebook group and website, a Twitter account and a petition to sign, but as Nicholas Kristof points out,

At the end of the day, a Web campaign may not get her freed any time soon. But it may improve her treatment and reduce the likelihood of abusive treatment in prison. And word may reach her, which may lift her spirits just a bit to know that she’s not forgotten. link

I’ve put together a dipity timeline of the case of Saberi which I’ll keep updated with items from the Frontline Newswire, that feeds into the right hand column on the Frontline Club news page, as and when the story develops.

Ayanle Jama Feyte, an online journalist working for the Lassqorey website who was arrested on March 26, has reportedly been jailed for two years by a court in Bossaso in the Puntland region of Somalia. He is charged with defamation under the “criminal code defamation to state administrative bodies” after he allegedly published a series of articles critical of the regional president and other senior local government officials,

“We are deeply stunned by these unfounded allegations against Jama Ayanle.  Puntland police has history of threatening and arresting journalists because of their independent reporting” said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General. “If they cannot produce tangible proof to substantiate these allegations, the police must release the journalist without more illegal detention to continue his work freely.” link

Feyte’s arrest and the general situation for Somali journalists working in the Puntland region was the subject of discussion this week in Chicago.

Photo taken from Human Rights House Foundation.

Michael J. Kavanagh, from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, reports from a refugee camp in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo with footage from cameraman Taylor Krauss. Earlier today we blogged how the two got caught up with the secret police in the DRC. You can read the full story on the World Focus website,

Note: In the weeks since this story was filmed, the camp has been attacked and Pascal was forced to flee a third time. The camp is now deserted except for a small rebel force and Worldfocus reporters have not been able to locate Pascal and his family. link