Iran September 5, 2019
Was the imprisonment of Iranian-American journalist Marzieh Hashemi spun
into expanded US sanctions?
The relationship between former Air Force analyst-turned-Iranian spy Monica
Witt and Hashemi - who was jailed by US authorities this January - is at the
center of one of the Trump administration's most bizarre sanctions
designations.
By Max Blumenthal
This is part two of a two part series on the impact of expanded US sanctions
on Iran. Read part one here.
Disgusted by the atrocities she claimed to have witnessed in the US Air
Force in Iraq and Afghanistan, a counter-intelligence analyst named Monica
Witt defected to Iran in 2013. She allegedly provided its intelligence
services with classified information she had gathered over her career, and
helped a team of hackers spearphish the social media accounts.
According to the US government, Witt's defection was assisted by a US-born
journalist, Marzieh Hashemi, who had also moved to Iran.
This January, Hashemi was arrested by US authorities while on her way to
visit her son. The unexplained detention of a journalist and reports of
mistreatment by her jailers sparked protest rallies outside the federal
courthouse in Washington DC where her hearing took place.
Close observers of US-Iran relations were mystified by Hashemi's arrest,
speculating that she was being held to pressure Iran to release an unknown
US citizen.
But soon after Hashemi returned to Iran, and as the media torpor over her
jailing died down, the US Department of Justice publicized the previously
secret indictment. The DOJ subsequently revealed that Hashemi was the
"Individual A" who allegedly assisted Witt's defection, acting as a "spotter
and assessor" for Iran's intelligence services.
The indictment further asserted that Witt "traveled to Iran for the purpose
of attending the New Horizon Organization's 'Hollywoodism' conference, an
IRGC-sponsored event aimed at condemning American moral standards and
promoting anti-U.S. propaganda." (The IRGC is the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards Corps, the combined military and intelligence apparatus of Iran).
As The Grayzone detailed in part one of this series, New Horizon is a public
media event held annually in Iran that has hosted anti-establishment Western
intellectuals and anti-war activists seeking to bridge fractured US-Iranian
relations, along with an array of more dubious conspiracy cranks.
Two weeks after Hashemi's release from US custody, the co-founders of New
Horizon, Zeina Mehanna and Nader Talebzadeh, were sanctioned by the US
Treasury Department.
"I see no connection with my arrest and its organizers, thus I see no
connection with my arrest and [New Horizon's] sanctioning, except as a
psychological game or psy-op by the US government," Hashemi told The
Grayzone.
She added, "The US always tries to play people against each other. This is
nothing new."
But Mehanna of New Horizon offered a strikingly different account. She
described Hashemi as a close friend who had betrayed her and her husband,
possibly while under duress, in order to secure her release from a possible
long term jail sentence in the US.
"A few days after [Hashemi's] arrival to Iran, we were sanctioned!" Mehanna
exclaimed. "Go figure. A deal! Just connect the dots!"
Breaking into the Iranian scene as a "Wall Street Activist"
Whether or not the 2012 "Hollywoodism" conference had anything to do with
Witt's recruitment, it was there that Witt made her first public appearance
in Iran.
Mehanna insisted that Witt had not been formally invited to participate in
the "Hollywoodism" conference, and maintained that New Horizon did not
sponsor the event. "It was Marzieh [Hashemi] who brought her," Mehanna said.
For her part, Hashemi stated, "I am not sure if this individual was invited
or not," referring to Witt. "I saw her at the conference, but later I was
told that she had already been here in Iran and just came to the
conference."
Invited or not, Witt was able to speak at the event, and was billed in
conference literature published after the event as a "Wall Street Activist,"
referring to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Witt's entry from 2012 "Hollywoodism" conference literature
The former Air Force officer converted to Islam in a publicly broadcast
ceremony, and gave an interview to Press TV, Iran's state media company,
during which she identified as a US military veteran.
New Horizon's Mehanna fervently denied any connection between her conference
and Witt's espionage activities.
"Why should we be accused and sanctioned for something that we did not
commit?" she exclaimed. "Ask any of our guests if they were approached by
any IRGC member or asked to share any information related to security. The
answer would be no!"
Michael Maloof, a former US Pentagon official who attended the conference in
the name of fostering better relations with Iran, told The Grayzone that he
was unable to detect any presence of IRGC recruiters at the event.
Maloof was nevertheless visited at his home this May by FBI agents asking
questions about New Horizon.
Traumatized by "drone strikes, extrajudicial killings and atrocities against
children"
The FBI wanted poster for Monica Witt
Following her first trip to Iran, Witt returned to the US in May 2012 to
complete a graduate program at George Washington University. In DC, she was
approached by FBI agents who warned her that she was a target for
recruitment by a foreign intelligence agency.
She promised she would not discuss her work with the US Air Force if she
ever traveled to Iran again.
A former classmate of Witt's at George Washington told the New York Times
that Air Force veteran was traumatized by US war crimes she had witnessed in
Iraq and Afghanistan. "She would talk about how she couldn't sleep at night,
the stuff she saw and was a part of," the classmate said of Witt.
According to the Times, Witt "would mention drone strikes, extrajudicial
killings and atrocities against children, all of which she claimed her
colleagues in the military would brag about. She seemed distressed by what
she called 'gross incompetence' by her superiors."
By the time Witt returned to Iran the following year, dropping in on another
"Hollywoodism" conference, she was on the path to defecting and forking over
information she had gathered as an intelligence analyst. Helping her make
the move was Hashemi, the journalist and US dual citizen, according to
federal prosecutors.
"I was talking to people until about 2 in the morning about your case. I
have several different channels working on it, but to be honest with one of
them, he said they got suspicious that on one hand, you said u have no
money, and on the other hand u r going from country to country," Hashemi
allegedly texted Witt.
The IRGC appeared initially suspicious of Witt, but eventually helped her
obtain a visa through Iran's embassy in Dubai. "I'm signing off and heading
out! Coming home:)," Witt texted Hashemi on August 28, 2013, the day she
defected.
Mehanna of New Horizon described Hashemi as Witt's "handler." The DOJ
indictment referred to the Iranian-American journalist as a "spotter or
assessor on behalf of the Iranian intelligence services."
Hashemi rejected these characterizations. In a statement to The Grayzone,
she declared:
"I am a journalism [school] graduate with decades of experience. I have
interviewed people from around the world and maintained contact with many of
them, just like any other journalist. I happen to be living and working in
Iran. Journalism is not a crime. It is not being a spotter, nor a fixer, nor
a pawn for US foreign policy."
In Iran, Witt adopted a new identity as Fatemah Zahra. According to her
indictment, she began collaborating with hackers to spearphish information
from US intelligence agents she identified.
It was not until July 2018, almost five years since Witt slipped into Iran,
that the US government issued a secret indictment against the former Air
Force analyst.
In January of the following year, Hashemi took a trip to the US to visit
members of her family. Unaware of the indictment of Witt, she headed
straight into a US dragnet.
The arrest and interrogation of Hashemi
Marzieh Hashemi was born in Louisiana as Melanie Franklin in 1959. After
meeting revolutionary Iranian students at age 22 and converting to Islam,
she changed her name and moved to Iran during the early 1980's.
In January 2019, Hashemi traveled to New Orleans to visit her family. Next,
she headed to St. Louis to film a documentary about the Black Lives Matter
movement. While she boarded a flight at St. Louis Lambert International
Airport, on her way to meet her son, Hossein, in Denver, she was arrested by
federal agents and immediately transported to Washington DC.
Initial reports on Hashemi's arrest stated that she was a "material
witness," but offered no further information. Her son told the Associated
Press, "we don't have any information along those lines" when asked if she
was being investigated in connection to any crime.
While in prison, Hashemi was unable to communicate with her family for four
days. "While being held without charge, I was forced to remove my hijab and
denied adequate clothing or food," Hashemi told The Grayzone. "Similar
treatment of other Americans has been found to be unlawful."
It took ten days before Hashemi appeared in a courtroom, and by then,
protests against her detention had erupted from Washington to Tehran.
"The FBI hates us"
On January 30, a week after her federal grand jury appearance and subsequent
release from custody, Hashemi returned to a hero's welcome in Tehran.
Received on the tarmac by throngs of chanting supporters, the Press TV
anchor held a press conference where she denounced "a campaign of disrespect
and intimidation" in the US.
Among those waiting to welcome Hashemi back to Iran was Mehanna, the New
Horizon co-founder.
"As I greeted [Hashemi] with warmth, since we were best friends, she
whispers in my ear as we hugged, 'The FBI hates us," Mehanna recounted. "She
added that eighty percent of the questions they [the FBI] asked her were
about New Horizon! The rest were about Monica Witt and her connection to
her."
"When they asked her about Witt," the New Horizon co-founder added, "she
tried to deny everything. But they had evidence from her emails, WhatsApp
messages, and phone calls that she had been in continuous contact with her."
Hashemi confirmed that she had been grilled by the FBI about New Horizon: "I
was asked about many subjects regarding Iran, and that conference was one of
the subjects."
According to Mehanna, her husband, New Horizon co-founder Talebzadeh,
demanded Hashemi go public with the information about her interrogation.
"She refused on the premise that it was part of the 'sealed portion' of
Witt's indictment," Mehanna said.
On February 8, Witt's indictment was unsealed. Department of Justice
officials subsequently told members of the media that Hashemi was the
"Individual A" referred to in the indictment as Witt's "spotter."
Five days later, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions on Mehanna
and Talebzadeh, claiming that they "organize[d] international conferences
that supported the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force's
(IRGC-QF's) efforts to recruit and collect intelligence from foreign
attendees, including US persons."
The sanctions designation of the two New Horizon founders, a filmmaker and a
writer, was accompanied by acronym, SDGT, or Specially Designated Global
Terrorist. This meant that they would be tainted with a label traditionally
reserved for members of violent extremist organizations like Al Qaeda and
the Islamic State.
Mehanna's personal savings account was subsequently frozen in her home
country of Lebanon as a result of the sanctions.
She now looks back on the episode - and Hashemi's role in it - with anger.
"The irony is that Nader [Talebzadeh] and I get an SGDT status when we had
nothing to do with Monica Witt, while the actual person who was Witt's
handler is free and undesignated," Mehanna reflected. "Isn't that a total
farce?"
