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US-born Iranian TV anchor back in Iran after US detention

January 30, 2019 at 8:41 pm

Press TV anchor Marzieh Hashemi [Press TV]

A US-born anchor for Iran’s state-run Press TV arrived in Iran on Wednesday after 10 days of detention in the United States, Press TV reported, says Reuters.

The anchor, Marzieh Hashemi, testified as a material witness in an undisclosed federal investigation, a US federal court order said last Thursday when she was freed.

Hashemi’s detention added to the tension that has grown between Iran and the United States since US President Donald Trump’s decision last May to pull out of an international nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

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Hashemi, 59, was arrested by the FBI at St. Louis Lambert International Airport and transferred to a detention center in Washington DC, where she was held for two days before managing to contact her family, Press TV said.

Press TV said she was mistreated in jail because her hijab was removed and she was offered non-halal food.

The channel aired live footage of her arrival at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport on Wednesday, where a crowd greeted her with flowers.