Beauty Queen and Journalist Roxana Saberi Sets Free from Prison

The controversial former beauty queen and American journalist, Roxana Saberi has been freed from prison after four months in a Tehran prison and two weeks of hunger strike. She was accused of spying for a "hostile" nation (Iran's words), the United States of America.

The news comes after the decision of an Iranian appeals court to reduce her original eight-year sentence for spying. Her lawyer says she shed tears of relief at the news.

Friends and supporters of jailed U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi rejoiced over the decision by an Iranian appeals court to release her, and Saberi wept after hearing the news.

Eyewitnesses say that Saberi was released from a secret exit of Tehran's Evin prison, rather than the main gate, where journalists and supporters had gathered to see her.

Saberi's father Reza called his daughter's release "an unexpected surprise," telling reporters at her house in northern Tehran that she was "well."

Iran's Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi confirmed Saberi's sentence had been reduced by an appeals court, following Sunday's hearing. Saberi's initial eight-year conviction on charges of espionage were reduced to a two-year suspended sentence, according to her attorney Abdulsamad Khorramshahi. He told journalists the Saberi case was one of the most gratifying he had ever taken on.

Human rights organizations across the world, including Reporters Without Borders, had lobbied for Saberi's release, calling her initial conviction "politically motivated." The United States had repeatedly called the Iranian spying charges against Saberi "baseless" and had pleaded for her immediate release.

Saberi will reportedly be allowed to return home to the United States and under the terms of her suspended sentence will not be allowed to practice journalism in Iran for 5 years.

Here is a video showing Roxana Saberi. An she's really beautiful. Her father is an Iranian an her mother is a Japanese.

Jailed U.S. Journalist in Iran Goes on Hunger Strike

The American journalist convicted of spying in Iran has gone on a hunger strike to protest her imprisonment, her father said Saturday.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was convicted of spying for the United States and sentenced to eight years in prison after a swift, closed door trial earlier this month.

Saberi was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials, but earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled the far more serious allegation of espionage.

"She went on a hunger strike Tuesday to protest her imprisonment. Today is the fifth day," Reza Saberi told The Associated Press. "She will remain on hunger strike until she is freed."

Her father said Roxana's lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, has appealed the sentence.

"The lawyer filed his appeal today," he said.

Iran's judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, ordered a full investigation into the case Monday, a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Tehran's chief prosecutor to ensure Saberi be allowed a full defense during her appeal.

It is the first time Iran has found an American journalist guilty of spying, and it is unclear how it would affect recent overtures by the Obama administration for better relations and engagement with Washington's longtime adversary.

The case has been a source of tension with the U.S. at a time when President Barack Obama is trying to open a dialogue with Iran to end a decades-long diplomatic standoff. The U.S. has called the accusations against Saberi baseless and demanded her release.

Iran's judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said Tuesday that the appeals court would reconsider the verdict, an indication her sentence could be commuted.

Saberi, who was born in the United States and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, moved to Iran six years ago and worked as a freelance journalist for news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. She received Iranian citizenship because her father was born in Iran.

Iran has released few details about the charges against Saberi but Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi said Tuesday that the initial investigation of Saberi was done by an expert on security and counterespionage at the Intelligence Ministry before her case was referred to the court.

An Iranian investigative judge involved in the case alleged that Saberi was passing classified information to U.S. intelligence services.

Her parents have traveled to Iran from their home in Fargo in a bid to help win their daughter's release.

Saberi's father has said his daughter, who was Miss North Dakota in 1997, had been working on a book about the culture and people of Iran, and hoped to finish it and return to the United States this year.

Iran convicts former Beauty Queen of spying for U.S.

A former Northwestern University journalism student and a beauty queen working as a reporter in Iran was convicted on espionage charges and sentenced to eight years in prison Saturday.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But earlier this month, an Iranian judge leveled a far more serious allegation, charging Saberi with spying for the United States.

Northwestern Professor Jack Doppelt said he's "sad and incensed" about his former student's conviction.

"It's so hard to understand exactly what's going on. One thing that is clear is she did not commit an act of espionage on behalf of the United States. What is not clear is what this is about," Doppelt said. "It makes me uneasy knowing that she is at the mercy of geopolitics."

Saberi appeared before an Iranian court behind closed doors Monday in an unusually swift one-day trial. Her lawyer said he plans to appeal the verdict.

Saberi, a former Miss North Dakota, had been living in Iran for six years, working as a free-lance reporter for several news organizations, including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.

Doppelt has kept in touch with Saberi, who received a master's in 1999. He said his former student produced "really terrific stories ... mostly about the people of Iran."

"In one sense, she was one of the best mouthpieces [Iranians] have. Iranians are not villainous people, and that was the nature of her stories. Then she gets picked out and demonized. It's a sad, telling irony how international affairs itself attacks its own people."

Iran has released few details about the charges against Saberi. Initially, Iranian officials said she was arrested for working in Iran without press credentials; she told her father she was arrested after buying a bottle of wine.

Her father, Reza Saberi, told NPR that his daughter had been coerced into statements that she later retracted. "She is quite depressed," he said.

An Iranian investigative judge involved in the case charged that Saberi was passing classified information to U.S. intelligence services.

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Iran after its 1979 Islamic revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

Saberi's conviction marked the first time Iran has found an American journalist guilty of spying, and it was unclear how the verdict would affect recent overtures by the Obama administration for better relations.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement she's "deeply disappointed" in Saberi's sentence, and the United States will "vigorously raise our concerns" with Iran's government.

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Beauty queen has been spying, says Iran

Roxana Saberi grew up as a classic overachiever, an introverted but determined young woman who excelled at piano and overcame her shyness to become Miss North Dakota and succeed in journalism.

Now the 31-year-old American reporter is the focus of international attention after Iranian authorities charged her with espionage.

A dual citizen of the United States and Iran, she was arrested in January and has been detained in a prison north of Tehran.

Saberi has lived in Iran for the last six years. She was initially accused of working without press credentials, but a judge last week levelled the much more serious allegation: spying for the US.

Saberi will stand trial this week. The Obama Administration and national news organisations have been pushing for her release.

The case has shocked and alarmed Saberi's friends, teachers and former colleagues in Fargo, where she grew up, attended college and started her journalism career.

"She's just a sweet, genuine person," said Cindy Larson-Casselton, whose late husband was a media studies professor at Concordia College and a mentor to Saberi.

"She was a babysitter for us, and we saw in her a wonderful role model for our own daughters."

Saberi's father is Iranian and her mother Japanese, but she was born in the US and attended primary school in Fargo. Her ninth-grade history teacher, Vic Youngs, called her one of the brightest people he had had in class.

At Fargo North High School, she ploughed through advanced placement courses and was active in outside activities including soccer and piano - both of which she continued at Concordia College in nearby Moorhead, Minnesota.

Kristi Rendahl, a college classmate who stayed in touch with Saberi and now runs a St Paul, Minnesota, consulting business, said her friend thrived in whatever she did despite a natural introversion.

"She didn't command a lot of attention from people personality-wise, but just by way of excelling in everything, she got attention that way," Rendahl said. "She was the classic overachiever, driven."

In 1997, at the urging of a college instructor with experience in the pageant world, Saberi decided to compete in the Miss North Dakota contest.

She won, and made it to the Top 10 in that year's Miss America pageant. She played the piano for the talent portion.

"It was the first time anyone could remember that North Dakota made it nearly that far," said the instructor, Merrie Sue Holtan.

By the late 1990s, Saberi had landed a job as a reporter for KVLY, Fargo's NBC affiliate. Charley Johnson, the general manager who hired her after teaching her in a class at Concordia, called her bright, inquisitive and dedicated. Though it was hard to get her to talk about herself, she said she wanted to be a foreign correspondent.

"No one ever doubted she would achieve that," Johnson said.

Mel Stone, a photojournalist who worked with Saberi at KVLY, recalled how for a time she travelled 400km to the Twin Cities every weekend to see a voice coach. She also studied Farsi and later attained masters degrees in broadcast journalism and international relations. She had been working on another masters in Iranian studies.

Friends said it was Saberi's curiosity about her heritage that took her to Iran in the first place.

"I think at least in part, it was an identity search," Holtan said.

"She wanted that part of her history and her family to be more known to her."

Saberi has been a freelance reporter for organisations including National Public Radio and the BBC. The Government apparently revoked her press credentials more than a year ago, but continued to let her work on some stories.

Cathy McMullen, a Concordia journalism instructor, said Saberi's interests as a reporter ran less to Iran's political situation and more to the lives of everyday Iranians.

"She said she liked to do stories on everyday life in Iran, so people could understand the culture," McMullen said. "That's why this espionage thing makes no sense. She was not doing hot political stories."

Her father, Reza Saberi, said after her arrest that she had been working on a book about the culture and people of Iran.

Reza and Akiko Saberi were allowed to visit their daughter in prison last week for about 30 minutes. It was the first time they had spoken to her since she called them on February 10 to say she had been arrested.

Hank Tkachuk, another Concordia professor, said he spoke to Saberi about the potential dangers of working in Iran.

"She assured me she was well aware of the risks and felt it was important for her to be there."

- AP

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Ex-beauty queen working as journalist held in Iran for buying wine - dad

A former beauty queen who has been working as a journalist in Iran went missing after she was jailed for buying a bottle of wine, her desperate father said Sunday.

Roxana Saberi, 31, called her dad in Fargo, N.D., from an Iranian jail on Feb. 10 to tell him she'd been detained on Jan. 31. It's been almost three weeks since her call and he has no clue what happened to his daughter.

"We haven't heard anything," said Reza Saberi, who came forward hoping to bring attention to the case and find his missing daughter.

"She said that she had bought a bottle of wine and the person that sold it had reported it and then they came and arrested her."

Buying and selling alcohol is illegal in Iran.

Roxana Saberi, a U.S. citizen who also carries an Iranian passport, moved to Iran six years ago to work as a freelance journalist and complete her master's degree. She grew up in North Dakota, where she was a star soccer player and, in 1997, earned the title of Miss North Dakota and competed in the Miss America pageant.

"She called from an unknown place and said she's been kept in detention," her father said.

A few minutes after that call, she phoned again and said she would be out in two days and asked her father not to do anything.

Officials in Iran have not confirmed the arrest. A State Department duty officer said the agency is investigating.

Iranian officials revoked Roxana Saberi's press credentials more than a year ago, but she kept reporting short news stories from Iran.

Her father said she had planned to move back to Fargo this year.