American journalist Roxana Saberi’s conviction for espionage practically screamed symbolism as it coincided with Iran’s national holiday, Army Day. To celebrate the strength of Iran’s armed forces, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Iran’s army keeps the country “one of the strongest in the region” and “no country dares to threaten [Iran].” On a day when Iran officially flexed its military muscles, it has unofficially shown its diplomatic chutzpah by defying calls from the international media and the U.S. State Department to release Ms. Saberi from an unjust incarceration.

As the United States considers reconciliatory moves towards Iran, Iran has in turn failed to show real commitment to normalizing with the United States. President Obama has made several statements appealing to the Iranian people and their leaders that the United States seeks “a new beginning” and a relationship based on mutual respect. In response, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has rebuffed Obama’s overtures with dismissive statements such as “Change only in words is not enough.”

But the United States has gone farther than just words. In a recent conference that sought to curb the drug trade in Afghanistan, the United States even engaged an Iranian diplomat for the first time in many years. Recently, the State Department has hinted that they would accept Iran’s controversial nuclear energy program if it was internationally monitored and used strictly for civilian energy purposes. Unfortunately, hard liners in Iran have put another roadblock in place in any attempts towards normalization with the United States by arresting and convicting an American journalist living in Iran.

One can hardly believe that a former Miss North Dakota and top 10 finisher for Miss America, Ms. Saberi, was arrested for spying on behalf of the United States. After receiving masters degrees in broadcast journalism and international relations from Northwestern University and Cambridge University (respectively), Saberi moved to Iran to begin work as a freelance journalist while she pursued another masters in Iranian studies. In fact, Ms. Saberi was originally arrested for a far lesser crime than espionage –– she was initially arrested for buying a bottle of wine, which is banned under Islamic law. Iran’s notoriously secretive and restrictive Revolutionary Court found the Iranian-American journalist guilty after a single day of testimony — Saberi’s father has stated that his daughter was convicted on the basis of a confession that was coerced out of her under the pretense that she would be released if she cooperated.

Roxana now faces eight years in jail, the harshest punishment yet that an Iranian court has administered to a dual citizen. Iran has arrested other American citizens in the past on similarly trumped up charges — and luckily their releases were secured after a few months of incarceration. Others have not been so lucky: A former FBI agent named Robert Levinson has been missing since he traveled to the country on business in 2007; American authorities maintain that he is secretly being held in Iran. In a case that caused international uproar in late 2003, an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist named Zahra Kazemi was reportedly raped, tortured and brutally beaten to the point of death during her imprisonment at Iran’s infamous Evin prison. Unfortunately, Ms. Saberi is imprisoned in the very same facility.

There are several explanations for Iran’s flagrant defiance of international standards for human rights. The most practical reason for Ms. Saberi’s arrest could be Iran’s interest in using Ms. Saberi as a bartering tool –– whether it be during upcoming negotiations in regards to its nuclear program, or maybe in exchange for several Iranians who have been arrested by American troops in Iraq. Some experts assert that Iran has the “Rodney Dangerfield complex” — a country whose aggressive actions are simply an attempt to gain respect. More hawkish thinkers argue that this arrest is another example of Iran’s continued belligerence towards the United States, a move by the hard line ruling clerics intended to sabotage any olive branch offered by President Obama. Whatever its motivation, one thing is clear: Roxana Saberi has lost her freedom because Iran seeks to use her as a pawn in another silly game with the West.

Ms. Saberi’s plight points to a greater issue in our foreign policy. Even if we manage to revitalize diplomatic ties with Iran, the United States would be allied to a nation that frequently commits what many Americans and members of the international community consider intolerable violations of basic human rights. Our friendship with China has showed that calling for improved human rights is not necessarily easier from a friend than a foe.

Although we cannot police the world and “export democracy” as President Bush sought to do during his administration, the United States needs to continue to be a prominent voice in criticizing human rights violations, wherever they occur. We cannot ignore the fact that the Iranian government is responsible for two thirds of the world’s annual child executions, or that it persecutes the Baha’i minority and treats women as inferiors to men. The United States must blend friendly overtures with multilateral economic and political pressure in order to mend our relationship with Iran and free Roxana Saberi.