During the demonstration on Sunday, the participants demanded the immediate release of the American-born journalist, who has been imprisoned in the United States without charge for a week.
University students, media workers and activists were among the protesters, who were chanting slogans and holding posters reading “Free Marzieh Hashemi.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s Parliament speaker has said the United States' “barbaric” treatment of Press TV’s detained anchorwoman, Marzieh Hashemi, is an instance of “sham politics,” denouncing Washington for applying double standards to the issue of human rights.
In an address to the Parliament on Sunday, Ali Larijani said “the American regime’s barbaric behavior towards the Press TV journalist and the illegal treatment she has been subjected to are proof that they (the Americans) only preach about human rights to others, while they commit themselves to the same approach which their vassal state adopted in dealing with Khashoggi.”
Larijani was referring to the gruesome assassination in October 2018 of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Riyadh’s Istanbul consulate, which is widely believed to have been ordered by the kingdom’s US-backed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
If Iran had been involved in incidents of far less intensity than the US ill-treatment of Hashemi or the French government's crackdown on protesters, the same Western countries would have raised deafening alarms about human rights violations being committed in our country, Larijani added.
“This is another instance of their sham politics on the international stage, which has seen them hide their violent rule behind deceptive words,” he added.
Hashemi, an American-born Muslim convert, who has been based in Iran for many years, was arrested by the FBI without any charges at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in Missouri last Sunday.
Meanwhile, a twitter storm has been organized for January 20 at 17:00 GMT as part of a social media campaign to increase pressure for her release.
Hashemi, who has been living in Iran for years, was detained by the FBI at the international airport in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 13 while making a family visit. She was in the US to visit her ill brother and other family members.
After days of silence, the US government confirmed Friday that it had been holding Hashemi in jail since Sunday as a “material witness” and that she would be released after she testified before a grand jury.
Her elder son Hossein, however, said she was unlikely to be freed soon. So far, the Press TV news presenter has appeared twice before a US district judge in Washington.
In a message released on Saturday, Hashemi's family and friends called for her immediate release.