After much consideration in which rationality was clearly in abstentia, an Iranian court has found US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi guilty of spying and passed a sentence of 8 years.

Despite President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent expostulation that:

Anyone who talks about change must change his own behavior and policy. He must stop talking with the nations out of egocentrism and from a position of arrogance; he must officially recognize, and respect, the rights of the nations.

The view seemingly does not extend to his own citizens, and certainly not to those of women.

It is a dark day when a journalist is incarcerated for 8 years, for without research only misunderstanding can flourish, and hostility thereafter.

Saberi’s lawyers have vowed to appeal; let’s watch this space and hope a positive outcome emerges.