“Whenever US tried to restrict our diplomacy, our diplomats, especially Mr. Zarif, didn’t allow it. Zarif’s visits to several American and African countries and interviews with different media made US Secretary of State call for talks with Iranian outlets,” said Rabiei today in a press conference in Tehran. “We are ready for this and Ms. Marzieh Hashemi can go there and hold an interview with him [Pompeo]. He can say whatever he wishes and we are not afraid of what he would say.”

In his recent visit to New York, Zarif and his delegation were restricted by US administration to just move between four buildings, however, the Iranian minister held several interviews with major media including CNN, CBS, and BBC.

Marzieh Hashemi is a 59-year-old American-born Muslim convert and an American-Iranian journalist and anchor working in Tehran-based PressTV. In January 2019, when she detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri while in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members. A US federal court failed to indict the journalist, who was arrested as a material witness and in an unspecified criminal proceeding, of any crime and she was released after 10 days of detention, during which she was forced to remove her hijab.

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Hashemi arrived at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday night and was welcomed by her relatives and colleagues, Press TV reported.

The journalist, a 59-year-old American-born Muslim convert who has lived in Iran for years, was detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri on January 13 while in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.

The head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB)’s World Service said the release of Hasehmi marked a victory for the freedom-seeking and a setback for the US.

Hashemi was released on January 23 after some 10 days of detention without charge at a facility in Washington, D.C.

A US federal court failed to indict the journalist, who was arrested as a material witness and in an unspecified criminal proceeding, of any crime.

Hashemi’s detention prompted condemnation in the US and abroad, sparking rallies in several countries, including the United States.

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The Iranian journalist was freed after appearing before a grand jury in Washington, DC, for a third time on Wednesday morning.

The Washington Post, citing three sources familiar with the case, said Hashemi was released from US government custody after completing her testimony before the federal jury.

In a statement, her family also confirmed her release, saying, “Marzieh Hashemi has been released from her detention without charge and is with her family in Washington DC”.

“Marzieh and her family will not allow this to be swept under the carpet. They still have serious grievances and want answers as to how this was allowed to happen,” the statement read.

“They want assurances that this won’t happen to any Muslim – or any other person – ever again”.

Hashemi’s family further referred to the “harassment of the Muslim community by the FBI”, calling on the US government to start talking about it.

Rallies are scheduled to be held in 24 cities across the globe on Friday, January 25, in support of the Iranian journalist and the US black community.

“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 family statement said.

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 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.

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“The US govt needs to explain how Marzieh Hashemi—a journalist and grandmother—is such a flight risk that she must be incarcerated until she finishes her testimony to a grand jury,” Zarif said in a message posted on his Twitter account late on Monday.

Pointing to the murder of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, he added, “50 years after MLK assassination, US still violates the civil rights of black men and women”.

Family members say Hashemi, 59, was detained at St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport on January 13 and then taken by the FBI to Washington.

On Saturday, a US federal judge said that the news presenter was testifying behind closed doors to a grand jury in Washington.

According to reports, the third court session for the jailed US-born journalist will be held on January 23 in Washington.

“On Wednesday, a 23-member jury will be making a decision about my mother,” Hashemi’s son, Hossein, told Iranian media on Monday.

He said the jury had failed to level any charges against his mother on the two previous occasions, and that she would be freed if the decision continues to evade the body for a third straight time.

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According to the IRIB World Service website, a US court in Washington, DC, will hold the second hearing for Press TV’s anchor on Wednesday.

The report also said that Hashemi had been recently allowed to call her daughter for a second time.

“She had no information if any decision was made for her release (following the completion of her testimony),” her daughter said.

Family members say Hashemi, 59, was detained at St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport on January 13 and then taken by the FBI to Washington.

On Saturday, a US federal judge said that the news presenter was testifying behind closed doors to a grand jury in Washington.

Judge Howell said Hashemi has not been charged with any crime, but has made two appearances in District Court, NPR reported. She is expected to be released when she completes her grand jury testimony.

Howell’s order did not say when Hashemi might wrap up her testimony and gave no information on the case in which she was testifying.

However, Hashemi’s lawyer, Preston Burton, said, “we expect that she will soon return to her family, her home, and her career.”

Hashemi was born in New Orleans with the name Melanie Franklin. She married an Iranian man, converted to Islam, changed her name and moved to Iran in the 1980s. While she’s unknown in the US, she’s a prominent figure in Iran due to her position on state television. She’s a citizen of both the US and Iran.

She traveled to the US to visit relatives and to shoot a documentary, according to Press TV, which spoke to her son Hossein Hashemi.

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 Iranian students, journalists and people from different walks of life are holding a demonstration in front of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which handles the US consular affairs in Iran, to protest the illegal detention of a US-born anchor working for Iran’s Press TV by the US authorities.

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 Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani rebuked the arrest of Marzieh Hashemi, a US-born anchor working for Iran’s Press TV, saying such tricky measures prove Washington’s double standards regarding human rights.

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“We still have no idea what’s going on,” Hossein Hashemi told Press TV late on Wednesday, adding that he and his siblings had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.

He further said his mother was being held in a prison, apparently as a “material witness”.

“She seemed OK. She was upset about the kind of treatment that she was receiving as a person who (faces) charges would be treated. She had only eaten pretzels because her dietary restrictions limited her from the kinds of food that the prison facility would offer. She is also upset about the fact that her hijab was removed during processing and later on she was only able to cover her hair with a T-shirt apparently,” he said.

Hossein said, “I think it is important to know that she is an American citizen and she is a journalist. She is somebody who does documentaries on Black Lives Matters and is critical of a lot of the domestic policies of the United States government, the school-to-prison sort of pipeline and the white community and also the wars abroad and the regime change policies that the United States enforces all the time and puts major budgets behind”.

Marzieh Hashemi was detained in St. Louis, Missouri, where she had filmed a Black Lives Matter documentary after visiting relatives in the New Orleans area. She was then taken to Washington, according to her elder son.

The FBI recently told AP in an email that it had no comment on the arrest of the woman who was born Melanie Franklin in New Orleans and has worked for Iran’s state television network for 25 years.

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Iranian English-language Press TV anchorwoman, born Melanie Franklin in the United States, was detained upon arrival at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday, but wasn’t allowed to contact her family until late Tuesday.

“Ms. Marzieh Hashemi is the wife of an Iranian person and is therefore an Iranian citizen and we see it as our duty to defend the rights of our citizens,” Zarif said in an interview with Iranian Arabic network Al Alam on Wednesday.

“The move by the US to arrest her is an unacceptable political move and a violation of freedom of speech,” he argued.

“On that basis, the Americans should immediately end this political game.”

A Muslim convert who has been living in Iran for years, Hashemi had traveled to the US to visit her ill brother and other family members, Press TV reported.

She told her daughter that she was handcuffed and shackled and was being treated like a criminal.

The journalist also said that she had her hijab forcibly removed, and was photographed without her headscarf upon arrival at the prison.

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