US-born reporter Roxana Saberi, 32, walked free from a Tehran jail on May 11 after an Iranian court reduced her prison term for spying to a two-year suspended sentence. “I’m okay. I don’t want to make any comments but I am OK,” Saberi reportedly said minutes after leaving the Evin prison and being driven away by her father. The US-Iranian national was sentenced last month to an eight-year jail term by a revolutionary court on charges of “cooperating with a hostile state,” a charge which carries a prison term of one to 10 years.
Saleh Nikbakht, Saberi’s lawyer, said the appeal court quashed the initial verdict on the grounds that the US and Iran could not be defined as hostile towards each other. “She was sentenced to two years suspended for gathering secret documents,” he said. Iran’s judiciary said the sentence would be suspended for five years, bringing an end to the five-month ordeal. Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, said Saberi had continued working illegally after her press card was revoked in 2006. Saberi, who is also of Japanese origin, has reported for US National Public Radio, the BBC and Fox News, and has lived in Iran for the past six years.