The US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi has left the jail in Iran, her lawyer said Monday.
"She has left the jail and she is on the way to their home (in Tehran)," Saberi's lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi told the reporters.
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The US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi.[Xinhua File Photo]? |
Saberi, a 32-year-old freelance journalist, who was born in the United States and whose father is an Iranian, was arrested in Iran in the second half of January 2009 on charges of espionage for the United States.
In April, Saberi received eight years of sentence, but her lawyer made an appeal against the verdict.
Earlier on Monday, Saleh Nikbakht, her another lawyer, said Saberi has been sentenced to a two-year suspended term (in the appeal court) and she will be freed on Monday, according to the local ISNA news agency.
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Lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi speaks to the press near the Evin prison, in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2009. The US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi has left the jail in Iran, Saberi's lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi told the reporters. [Abdolsamad Khorramshahi/Xinhua]? |
Nikbakht said, "I was notified of the sentence in person, on the basis of which the verdict of the preliminary court was breached and my client was sentenced to a two-year suspended term."
Accordingly, Iran's Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi confirmed the news and said that the verdict of the previous court on Saberi has been reversed in the appeal court and she is to be freed.
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Reza Saberi, father of the US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, speaks to the press in Tehran, Iran, May 11, 2009. Roxana Saberi has left the jail in Iran, one of her lawyer said Monday. [Abdolsamad Khorramshahi/Xinhua] |
Saberi has been working for various news organizations including the BBC and US National Public Radio (NPR).
According to Iranian authorities, Saberi had been denied press credentials since 2006, but she defied the ban and continued her journalistic activities.
(Xinhua News Agency May 12, 2009)
