Iran jails US journalist for spying

An Iranian-American journalist has been sentenced to eight years in prison for spying on Iran, a relative says.

US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi poses for a photograph in Bam, 1,250 km (776 miles) southeast of Tehran March 31, 2004.  Iran's judiciary has charged detained Iranian-American freelance journalist Roxana Saberi with espionage, the ISNA news agency reported on April 8, 2009. ISNA, quoting a judge who is the deputy head of Iran's prosecutor's office, said Saberi had "accepted" the accusation.  Picture taken March 31, 2004.  REUTERS/Stringer (IRAN POLITICS CONFLICT SOCIETY) *** Local Caption ***  TEH08_IRAN-USA-JOUR_0408_11.JPG
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An Iranian revolutionary court has sentenced US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi, who was put on trial for spying for the United States, to eight years in jail, a relative said today. "Roxana's father (Reza Saberi) informed me that she has been sentenced to eight years in jail," the relative said. Ms Saberi, 31, has been detained in a notorious Tehran prison since January and went on trial behind closed doors on Monday accused of spying for the United States.

Her lawyer, when contacted, said he would not comment yet and did not confirm or deny the sentence. The court ruling comes despite calls by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Ms Saberi's release and President Barack Obama's diplomatic overtures to Iran. The sentence is the harshest meted out to a dual-national on security charges. Several US-Iranians including academics, have been detained in recent years on security accusations but released in months.

US-born Ms Saberi has reported for US-based National Public Radio (NPR), the BBC and Fox News, and had lived in Iran for six years. In March, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Ms Saberi's press card was revoked in 2006 and since then she had been working "illegally". Last month her parents appealed to Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for her release, saying she was in a "dangerous" mental state.

* AFP