A revolutionary court has sentenced an Iranian-American journalist, Roxana Saberi, to eight years in prison after convicting her of spying for the United States, her lawyer said Saturday.
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Roxana Saberi with former President Ayatollah Khatami. |
Two days after she went on trial in secrecy, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, 31, was convicted April 15 on charges of spying for the United States and sentenced to eight years in prison.
She was arrested in January after breaking Iran’s anti-booze law by buying a bottle of wine. She was charged with reporting after her press card was revoked, and the spying charge was added later.
Her attorney said he will appeal.
Roxana’s parents were notified of the sentencing three days after the Revolutionary Guard court issued its verdict.
Her parents, Reza and Akiko Saberi of Fargo, North Dakota visited her in jail April 6. “She was spiritually better than before,” her father said. “However, physically, she was extremely thin and weak but she said she eats now and is going to exercise… . I will stay here until she is freed.”
Saberi, 31, a U.S. citizen, reported for NPR, BBC, Fox News and Feature Story News during six years in Iran while pursuing a master’s degree in Iranian studies and international relations.
Saberi graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. At the suggestion of Richard Stolley, a former OPC president, Jack Doppelt, a Medill professor, asked the school’s alumni to sign a petition to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “to ensure that Saberi has access to an attorney and receives due process.”
In a letter to Tehran President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Norman A. Schorr, Larry Martz and Kevin McDermott, co-chairmen of the OPC Freedom of the Press Committee, wrote on March 6, “No charges have been brought against Saberi, and her lawyers are not being allowed to visit her…Saberi’s arrest [is] a violation of both Iranian law and international legal standards.”