Iranian American journalist Roxana Saberi was released from a Tehran prison today, her attorney said, after Iranian judicial authorities suspended the remainder of the eight-year jail sentence she was given for alleged espionage.
Saberi's release was confirmed by the semi-official state news agency Mehrnews. She did not immediately appear before the crowd of reporters that had gathered at the gray metal gate of Evin Prison in northwest Tehran. Saberi's attorney, Abdolsamad Khorramshai, said Saberi apparently had been sent out of the prison through another door.
Khorramshai said he received a message from Iranian judicial authorities at 2 p.m. local time that Saberi's sentence had been reduced from eight years to a two-year suspended sentence. He and Saberi's father immediately went to the prison to await her release.
"As I understood it, she is free to leave Iran," Khorramshai said. "They explained [to] me that the two years were conditional and would not be carried out if she would not commit any crimes in the coming five years."
The abrupt turnaround in a case that has garnered significant international attention came as Saberi's legal team was waiting to hear whether its appeal of her closed-door trial would be successful.
Saberi, 32, has been banned from working as a reporter in Iran for five years, Khorramshai added.
"We are very happy and emotional," said Reza Saberi, the young woman's father, who emigrated from Iran to the United States years ago. His wife, wearing a gray coat and white headscarf printed with roses, was teary-eyed and surrounded by dozens of photographers and reporters.
The couple, who live in Fargo, N.D., returned to Iran after their daughter was arrested. They have visited her in jail and helped keep the spotlight on her plight through a series of media interviews.
"I'm sure she will come home with us and won't stay in Iran," Reza Saberi said. "But we don't know yet what will happen."
Saberi, who was born in the United States but also holds an Iranian passport, was detained in January, initially for allegedly buying alcohol, which is prohibited in Iran. Before Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance revoked her press card in 2006 without specifying a reason, she had worked on a freelance basis for the BBC, National Public Radio and other news organizations.
In April, after a closed-door trial, a revolutionary court found Saberi guilty of espionage and sentenced her to eight years in prison. It was the harshest sentence ever meted out by an Iranian court to a dual national on security charges, although others with dual nationality have also been accused by Tehran of being U.S. agents.
President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have on several occasions expressed their concerns and disappointment over the case, which had become an obstacle in diplomatic overtures by both the U.S. and Iranian administrations.
After Saberi's attorney sought an appeal of her conviction, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders asked for a retrial in a standard court proceeding. A verdict was not expected until next week.
Abdolfattah Soltani, a lawyer affiliated with the office of Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, said a retrial likely would have resulted in a full acquittal.
"When the appeals for these verdicts are distributed among normal courts the sentences are usually always significantly lowered," Soltani said. Two other Americans still remain missing or detained in Iran. Robert Levinson, a private detective probing cigarette smuggling, went missing in 2007 during a visit to Iran's Kish island. Iranian officials have repeatedly denied that Levinson is in the country.
Esha Momeni, an Iranian American student at California State University at Northridge, was detained in October for supporting a campaign for women's rights. Momeni was later released, but she has not been allowed to leave Iran.
Iranian leaders have repeatedly asked the United States to release three Iranian diplomats who have been held without trial by U.S. forces in Iraq since 2007. The Iranians, accused of spying, were arrested during a raid at what Iran says was its consulate in Irbil. U.S. forces said the office was used by members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran recently called for the "speedy and unconditional freedom of its consulate officials."
As the number of news crews grew outside the prison gates today in anticipation of Saberi's release, they were joined by Bahman Ghobadi, a successful Iranian Kurdish filmmaker who says he is Saberi's boyfriend.
Ghobadi denied for months that he and Saberi were in a relationship, but two weeks ago he wrote a long letter calling for the release of his "love with Japanese eyes." Saberi's mother is Japanese. Ghobadi told reporters he hoped Saberi would accompany him to the Cannes film festival later this week.
Serjoie reported from Tehran.