Iran: US journalist sentenced to eight years in prison
The US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, who was imprisoned in Tehran, has been sentenced to eight years in prison in an espionage trial. The sentence has caused outrage in the USA.
The US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, who was imprisoned in Tehran, has been sentenced to eight years in prison in an espionage trial. The sentence has caused outrage in the USA.
US President Barack Obama called on Iran on Sunday to release Saberi. He is seriously concerned about the safety and well-being of the journalist, Obama said on Sunday. He was also convinced that the 31-year-old had not been spying.
The journalist, who is both an Iranian and US citizen, was arrested in January. Since then she has been in the notorious Ewin prison in Tehran. Originally, the Iranian judiciary accused the reporter of buying alcohol, which is forbidden in the strictly Islamic country. The authorities then declared that Saberi had worked in Iran without a press card and therefore illegally. She was later accused of spying for the USA, which is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
Roxana Saberi was born in the USA and has lived in Iran for six years. She has worked for the US public radio station NPR, the US television station Fox News and the British BBC. According to her father, she was most recently working on a book about Iran. The court heard the case behind closed doors on Monday.
The organization Reporters Without Borders condemned the sentence and called the long prison term "severe and unjust". Saberi was not allowed to have a defense lawyer at her side during her only hearing in the trial.
US President Barack Obama called on Iran on Sunday to release Saberi. He is seriously concerned about the safety and well-being of the journalist, Obama said on Sunday. He was also convinced that the 31-year-old had not been spying.
The journalist, who is both an Iranian and US citizen, was arrested in January. Since then she has been in the notorious Ewin prison in Tehran. Originally, the Iranian judiciary accused the reporter of buying alcohol, which is forbidden in the strictly Islamic country. The authorities then declared that Saberi had worked in Iran without a press card and therefore illegally. She was later accused of spying for the USA, which is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
Roxana Saberi was born in the USA and has lived in Iran for six years. She has worked for the US public radio station NPR, the US television station Fox News and the British BBC. According to her father, she was most recently working on a book about Iran. The court heard the case behind closed doors on Monday.
The organization Reporters Without Borders condemned the sentence and called the long prison term "severe and unjust". Saberi was not allowed to have a defense lawyer at her side during her only hearing in the trial.
