Marzieh Hashemi: Why was she arrested?

Image from Eurasia Review

Even the US authorities could not concoct any criminal charges against Marzeih Hashemi, yet she was arrested on January15 at St. Louis airport, incarcerated in Washington DC and released several days later.  They said she was taken into custody as "material witness for a federal investigation."  What "investigation?"  They never specified it.  And .. since when  has it been legal to arrest and shackle a witness?  They won't say. 

The complacency of US organizations that pretend to zealously stand for press freedom was shameful.  Not a word of concern from Reporters Without Borders nor from American Civil Liberties Union.   The cowards at CAIR only meekly requested the reason for her arrest; they never demanded her release even though they knew that her only "crime" was that she was an Iranian citizen.

But the riddle is easily solved.  A U.S. citizen by birth, Marzieh is a naturalized citizen of Iran; a journalist who works for the Iranian media;  a revert practicing Muslim, and a vocal critic of US discriminatory policies including discrimination of women wearing hijab.  During her imprisonment, Marzieh was refused Halal food and was given pork.  Her hijab was forcibly removed and she was told to wear a short-sleeved shirt.   These were the acts they wanted to carry out against her as "revenge" so they arrested, shackled and imprisoned an innocent person, a journalist, who was visiting the US to meet her immediate family.  Throughout her time  in prison, she ate only crackers.

It's the way the sons of KKK are working to make "America great again."   No wonder they weren't pushed by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.  Far from condemning it, America seems desirous of following similar practices. 

Writes author Rannie Amiri in Counterpunch:  "It is this duplicitous, timid, half-hearted-to-absent response which requires “explanation” and “clarification” for us all."