Roxana Saberi to be released today?

[Puppycow]

U.S. Journalist to Be Freed Soon in Iran, Her Lawyer Says

By NAZILA FATHI
Published: May 11, 2009

TEHRAN— An Iranian-American journalist who was sentenced to eight years of jail on spying charges for Washington will be released Monday after an appeal court reduced the sentence, her lawyer said.

Saleh Nikbakht, one of the two lawyers who defended Roxana Saberi in an appeal hearing on Sunday, said the court turned down the original jail term and issued a two-year suspended prison term in its place.

“The verdict was given to me in person today,” Mr. Nikbakht said. “The appeals court has accepted our defense.”

Mr. Nikbakht said that he was waiting for Ms. Saberi outside Evin prison, where she has been held since January, and that Ms. Saberi can leave the country immediately. With him were Ms. Saberi’s parents, who live in Fargo, North Dakota, another lawyer for Ms. Saberi, and a crowd of journalists and photographers. They expected her release in about an hour.

“In the next few days, we will make travel plans to return home,” Reza Saberi, the father, told The Associated Press.

Ms. Saberi, 32, has lived in Iran since 2003 and worked as a freelance journalist for National Public Radio and the BBC. She was arrested in late January for buying a bottle of wine, which is illegal in Iran. But the charges against her escalated to working without a press card and then spying for Washington. Her press card had been revoked in 2006.

 

[Georg]

According to a German news outlet, she is free already. Good.

 

[coalesce]

I hope it doesn't come out that the Iranian government was paid off to release her.

Anyway, I'm very happy she's out and hope she's well.

Michael

 

[WildCat]

I hope it doesn't come out that the Iranian government was paid off to release her.

Anyway, I'm very happy she's out and hope she's well.

Michael

They won't be paid off in money. They will be paid off in propaganda points by those who think releasing someone early is a good-will gesture, a humanitarian move by the gracious Iranian government.

Never mind that they arrested her on trumped-up charges just so they could release her later as a "good-will gesture"... the useful idiots will lap this stuff up.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Yay.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

Gawd, the her name alone stirs my inner desires. Hope she's freed all the way to my house.