Biography: Roxana Saberi

When the journalist Roxana Saberi was first arrested in Iran, her
family was told it was for buying a bottle of wine – an act banned
under the country’s Islamic law.

Roxana Saberi as Miss North Dakota

As Miss North Dakota, Roxana Saberi wanted to promote cultural awareness

That was in January 2009. Iranian prosecutors then accused her of working as a journalist without a valid press card.

Finally, in April, she was accused of spying for the US and given an eight-year jail sentence.

On 11 May, the sentence was reduced on appeal to a two-year suspended sentence.

Between her sentence and release, Ms Saberi went on a two-week
hunger strike, which ended after she was briefly hospitalised in the
prison clinic.

Since her detention in January, she had been allowed only limited
contact with her family – telling them she was not being physically
harmed but was finding life difficult in Evin prison, near Tehran.

Diverse heritage

Ms Saberi, 31, was born in the US and grew up in Fargo, North
Dakota, the daughter of Reza Saberi, who was born in Iran, and his wife
Akiko, who is from Japan.

In 1997 she was chosen as Miss North Dakota and was among the top 10 finalists in Miss America 1998.

When she received her Miss North Dakota title, Ms Saberi said that
her aim was to encourage other people to appreciate cultural
differences – an ambition that eventually led her into a career in
journalism.

She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with degrees in mass communication and French.

Reza Saberi and his wife Akiko

Ms Saberi’s father, Reza, is Iranian and her mother, Akiko, is from Japan

Ms Saberi also holds a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from
Northwestern University in Chicago and another master’s degree in
international relations from Cambridge University in the UK.

She is currently working on yet another masters degree in Iranian studies.

Ms Saberi moved to Iran six years ago and worked as a freelance
journalist for various news organisations, including the BBC, before
her press credentials were revoked.

Her father said she had been determined to go to Iran, although he had expressed his concerns.

Mr Saberi said that despite losing her press status, his daughter
had stayed on to finish a book on Iran and to study. He said she had
planned to return to the US later this year.

Shock arrest

But then came her arrest.

The development surprised former BBC Tehran correspondent Frances Harrison, who remembers her as a very careful person.

“She was a very cautious person and the kind of person who wore a
headscarf even at diplomatic functions where there were no
restrictions,” she said.

“She was careful about her reputation, being a young, single woman living in Iran.”

She added: “She would know as a journalist that she would be under a
lot of scrutiny – her phone would be listened to and she would be
watched.”

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