lunedì 11 maggio 2009

ROXANA SABERI IS FREE...NOW TURNING BACK IN UNITED STATES...HOPE SHE LEAVE IRAN



Reporter Saberi leaves Iran jail

Details of the evidence against Ms Saberi have not been made public
The US-Iranian journalist jailed in Iran, Roxana Saberi, has been freed from prison after having her sentence for spying reduced.
Lawyers for the 31 year old, whose imprisoning sparked a global outcry, said she left Tehran's Evin jail hours after her eight-year term was cut.
She will be able to leave the country but has been banned from working as a journalist in Iran for five years.
Ms Saberi was convicted of spying for the US in April but denied the charge.
The BBC's Tehran correspondent says the charge against her was reduced on appeal to one carrying a lesser sentence.
The case sparked international attention and protests calling for Roxana Saberi to be released.
US President Barack Obama, who has taken a more conciliatory approach to Iran than his predecessor, was among those who appealed on her behalf.
There was also concern from within Iran: her partner, film director Bahman Ghobadi - whose work has won prizes in Cannes and Berlin - said Ms Saberi was a victim of Iran's "political games".
Her lawyer, Abdolsama Khorramshahi, told reporters in Tehran that Ms Saberi's father, Reza Saberi, confirmed the news of her release.
ROXANA SABERI'S DETENTION
January 2009: Arrested for buying a bottle of wine. Later charged with working illegally as a journalist
8 April: Accused of spying
18 April: Sentenced to eight years in jail
20 April: Goes on hunger strike for two weeks
10 May: Appeal heard
Profile: Roxana Saberi
The BBC's Jon Leyne, outside Evin prison, says no-one has seen Ms Saberi leave the jail. However, she is thought to be heading with her father and her mother, Akiko, to an undisclosed location in Tehran.
The AFP news agency quoted her as saying: "I'm OK. I don't want to make any comments but I am OK."
She recently ended a two-week hunger strike and was said to have looked thin and tired during her court appearance on Sunday.
'Fair and open'
That appeal hearing lasted five hours - far longer than the original hour-long trial.
Reza Saberi: "So practically, she is free as of now"
Before it began Ms Saberi was allowed a half-hour meeting with Mr Khorramshahi.
Some accounts of the hearing said Ms Saberi - looking a little bewildered - had visibly lost weight from the two-week hunger strike.
Details of the evidence against her have still not been made public, and it is not clear why the appeal hearing was brought forward.
Unlike her original trial, the legal process this time was arranged to appear fair and open, our correspondent in Tehran says.
As well as a reduced jail sentence, the charge against Ms Saberi was changed from one of passing secret information to a lesser count of having access to classified information, he adds.
Closed trial
Ms Saberi was held in Tehran's Evin prison since her arrest in January.
The journalist originally faced a less serious accusation of buying alcohol, and later of working as a reporter without a valid press card.
The spying charge was introduced soon afterwards, and she was tried and sentenced behind closed doors by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran.
Ms Saberi, who holds dual US and Iranian citizenship, has spent six years in Iran studying and writing a book.
She has worked as a freelance journalist for news organisations including the BBC and the US-based National Public Radio.




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