Free at last!
Tehran, Iran - An American journalist jailed for four months in Iran was freed Monday and reunited with her parents after an appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence on charges of spying for the U.S. Her parents said they would bring her home to the U.S. within days.
The release of Roxana Saberi, a 32-year-old dual Iranian-American citizen, clears a major snag in President Barack Obama's efforts to engage Iran in a dialogue after decades of shunning the country. Washington had called the charges against Saberi baseless and repeatedly demanded her release.
Saberi's arrest in late January, followed by a secretive, one-day trial and a heavy prison sentence, prompted sharp US criticism. Soon after, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other officials appeared to back off, suggesting the sentence could be reversed.
Image: This undated file photo released by the family of imprisoned Iranian-American shows journalist Roxana Saberi in Tehran, Iran.
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