The US government has released without charge Press TV anchor Marzieh Hashemi after 10 days of detention, her family has announced.
The journalist appeared before a grand jury in Washington, DC, on Wednesday morning, when her testimony was expected. The Associated Press cited the people familiar with her case as saying that she was released after her testimony concluded Wednesday afternoon.
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 on January 13th while in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.
She was transferred to a detention facility in Washington, DC, where she was initially forced to remove her hijab and only offered non-halal food.
The FBI declined to comment on her arrest, but the US government confirmed that she had been arrested as a “material witness.”
Following her release, Hashemi has called for all the people around the world to continue their protest against the US legal system.
“Just as America is aware of the harassment of the Black community by the police, America needs to start talking about the harassment of the Muslim community by the FBI,” her family said in a statement issued on Wednesday after her release without charge from prison in Washington, DC.
“Marzieh Hashemi will be remaining in Washington DC for the protest on Friday and calls for all cities across the world to keep their protest,” the statement read.
It is not just about Marzieh Hashemi, the statement stressed, it is about the fact that anyone, “Muslim or non-Muslim, can be imprisoned without charge in the United States.”
Source: Press TV
