Iranian Court Hears Saberi's Appeal

Roxana Saberi, the journalist dubiously jailed by Iran for espionage, has had her case heard by the Iranian court of appeals. CNN story here.

From the article: "The lawyer for imprisoned Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi said Sunday that the court will issue its verdict on her appeal next week.

"Lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi spoke after the court of appeals completed a five-hour session on the case. The Iranian week begins on Saturday."

This five-hour session was four hours longer than her actual trial. According to NYT via The Grand Forks Herald "Ms. Saberi’s father, Reza Saberi, who came to Tehran two weeks ago from Fargo, N.D., to secure her release, said Sunday that neither she nor her lawyer was aware that the trial was taking place last Monday until after it was under way.'

"'The lawyer was only told to go meet Roxana last Monday,’ he said in a telephone interview. 'No one knew that they were trying her. Roxana found out 15 minutes into the session that she was being tried.

“‘None of them, neither Roxana nor the lawyer, were ready to defend her.'"

UPDATE: Reuters is reporting (h/t to Pat at "And So it Goes in Shreveport") that Roxana Saberi has been released from jail.

"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."

I'm looking for other confirmations. We'll see. I'm hoping.

Ugh! I accidentally erased my speculation that the Iranian court would only shave off a few years from her sentence. I'll be very happy to be wrong about that.

UPDATE 2: The NYT is reporting the same news (but still using Reuters as its source). More details in there though. Looks promising!

FreeRoxana.net is reporting her father is waiting outside Evin prison.