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US reporter freed: Iranian judiciary source

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-11 20:28

Reza Saberi, father of imprisoned Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, speaks to the media outside the court in Tehran where his daughter's case was being heard May 10, 2009. [Agencies]

TEHRAN -- Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi has been released from Tehran's Evin jail, an Iranian judiciary source said on Monday.

The source, who declined to be named, told Reuters Saberi had left the prison after an appeals court reduced her eight-year jail sentence for espionage to a two-year suspended term.

Roxana Saberi, a 32-year-old dual American-Iranian national, was convicted last month of spying for the US and jailed.

Her case caused tension between the United States and Iran at a time with President Barack Obama had said he wanted to engage Washington's longtime adversary in a dialogue. The US has called the charges against her "baseless" and demanded she be freed.

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Iran's judiciary announced that the appeals court, which heard her case on Sunday, had reduced her jail term to a suspended two-year sentence, said one of her lawyers, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.

Her lawyers were heading to Evin prison to meet Saberi, said her other lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht. She has been held there since January.

Saberi moved to Iran six years ago and had worked as a freelance journalist for several organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders welcomed the decision to suspend Saberi's sentence and looked forward to her imminent release.