PHOTOS: Tehran Rally Held in Solidarity with Journalist Arrested in US

A gathering of Iranian people, including students and media activists, staged a protest rally in Tehran to voice their outrage over the arrest of Iran’s Press TV anchorwoman Marzieh Hashemi in the US.

People from all walks of life attended the rally on Sunday outside of the Swiss embassy, which represents US interests in Tehran.

The protesters chanted slogans in condemnation of the US and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the Iranian TV anchor.

A US court has confirmed that Hashemi, an American-born journalist who works for the Iranian state-owned media outlet Press TV, had been arrested in the US city of St. Lous and that she will be released after she testifies before a grand jury, according to Media reports.

The court order said that Hashemi, who was born in the United States as Melanie Franklin, had been detained to give a testimony to a jury investigating unspecified “violations of US criminal law”.

No date was given for the testimony and no information about the nature of the Hashemi case was revealed in the court filing.

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