Iran frees US-born journalist accused of spying

U.S.-born journalist Roxana Saberi walked free on Monday after an Iranian appeal court cut her eight-year jail sentence for spying to a suspended two-year term. Her release resolved a case that had further strained U.S.-Iranian relations, at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is seeking to reach out to Tehran after three decades of mutual mistrust. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington was heartened by the news, though it still objected to Saberi's espionage conviction. "She is currently with her family and will be leaving Tehran to return to the United States in the coming days," Clinton told reporters in Washington. Saberi, a citizen of both the United States and Iran who moved to Iran six years ago, was arrested in January for working in the Islamic Republic after her press credentials had expired. She was later accused of espionage, a charge that can carry the death sentence, and convicted on April 18. The United States had said the spying charges were baseless and demanded her immediate release. Tehran does not recognise dual nationality and told Washington not to interfere. The two countries were already locked in an acrimonious dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at making arms. Iran says it is to generate electricity. Obama has offered Iran a fresh start in relations, though Iran says Washington must first show real policy change. Analysts and diplomats have cautioned against seeing Saberi's arrest as a sign of Iran rejecting Obama's overture, but say her case may have been influenced by it. "ISLAMIC KINDNESS" The 32-year-old freelance journalist was released from Tehran's Evin jail, where rights groups say political prisoners are usually held, one day after a closed appeal court hearing. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had said her sentence would be reviewed on the basis of "human and Islamic kindness". "I'm very satisfied and happy about the ruling. We expected her to be freed but not this soon," said her father Reza, 68, who moved to the United States in the early 1970s. "Roxana is well and is staying at a relative's home tonight ... The exact date of our departure is not clear but we should get ready for our trip to America," he told reporters. One of Saberi's defence lawyers, Saleh Nikbakht, told the ISNA news agency the court had acquitted her of spying but convicted her under a law covering offences including taking pictures or videos in areas where photography is banned. She will be banned from doing any reporting work in Iran for five years, said her main lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi. Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told state television that Saberi, who has worked for the BBC and U.S. National Public Radio, had confessed and apologised. "So the court reduced the sentence ... since it was her first offence." Saberi, a former Miss North Dakota, looked thin and tired at Sunday's hearing. Last week, her father said she had ended a two-week hunger strike and was "very weak". The judiciary denied she had refused food, and said she was in good health. Reporters Without Borders, which last month said Saberi's conviction was a warning to foreign journalists in Iran ahead of its presidential election in June, welcomed her release. "The appeal court's decision to free her can be used as a legal precedent for other journalists currently detained in Iran," the Paris-based media watchdog said. It said 14 journalists and bloggers were in detention. Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking to stifle dissent. The government says it welcomes constructive criticism and upholds the principle of free speech.