TEHERAN (Iran) – A LAWYER for a jailed American journalist in Iran said Sunday he was optimistic that an appeals court will reduce her eight-year prison sentence for allegedly spying for the United States.
Roxana Saberi’s lawyer talked to reporters after his 32-year-old client’s five-hour closed-door appeals hearing. He said he was allowed to defend Ms Saberi and expects the court will make its ruling in the coming days.
Ms Saberi, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, was convicted last month after a closed-door hearing that her father said lasted only 15 minutes and her lawyer was not given time to defend her.
The case has caused tensions between the US and Iran at a time when President Barack Obama has said he wants to engage America’s longtime adversary. Washington has called the charges against Ms Saberi baseless and demanded she be freed.
Iran had promised a complete review of the case on appeal and insisted Ms Saberi would be allowed to provide a full defence. Officials have suggested that her prison term could be reduced. The court could also overturn her conviction.
Iran’s judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said he believed ‘the ruling by the appeals court will be fair and based on the law’, the country’s official news agency reported Sunday.
Ms Saberi moved to Iran six years ago and worked as a freelance reporter for several news outlets including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. She had gone on a hunger strike in prison to protest her jailing but ended it earlier this month after two weeks for health reasons.
Her Iranian-born father and her mother have travelled from Fargo to Iran to help seek her release. Her father has said his daughter 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.
The United States broke off ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the takeover of the US Embassy in Teheran by hard-line students. — AP
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