Supporters of Marzieh Hashemi, an American-born anchor for Iran’s state television broadcaster, demonstrate outside the Federal Courthouse where Hashemi will appear before a U.S. grand jury, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, in Washington. She is in custody as a material witness. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
WASHINGTON (AP) – A prominent American-born anchorwoman on Iranian state television who was held in the U.S. as a material witness was released from jail Wednesday evening.
Marzieh Hashemi, 59, was released from jail in Washington after being detained for 10 days, according to Abed Ayoub, an attorney with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Hashemi, who works for the Press TV network’s English-language service, was detained by federal agents Jan. 13 in St. Louis, Missouri, where she had filmed a Black Lives Matter documentary after visiting relatives in the New Orleans area, her son said. She was then transported to Washington and had remained behind bars since then.
In this image provided by Hossein Hashemi, Marzieh Hashemi, poses for a photo. An attorney with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee says the Iranian television anchorwoman has been released from a U.S. jail. Abed Ayoub said Marzieh Hashemi was released Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, after being detained for more than a week in Washington. (Hossein Hashemi via AP)
Hashemi appeared at least twice before a U.S. District judge in Washington, and court papers said she would be released immediately after her testimony before a grand jury. Court documents did not include details on the criminal case in which she was named a witness.
Federal law allows judges to order witnesses to be detained if the government can prove that their testimony has extraordinary value for a criminal case and that they would be a flight risk and unlikely to respond to a subpoena. The statute generally requires those witnesses to be promptly released once they are deposed.