Freed US reporter leaves Iran

15 May 2009, 4:19 pm   -   Source: AFP
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US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was accused of spying on Iran and imprisoned, before her sentence was suspended and she was freed. (AP

US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was accused of spying on Iran and imprisoned, before her sentence was suspended and she was freed. (AP

The American journalist freed after four months in an Iranian prison on spying charges left the country, flying to Vienna with her parents and a friend.

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The American journalist freed after four months in an Iranian prison on spying charges has left the country, flying to Vienna with her parents and a friend.

After landing at Vienna's airport, Saberi said she planned to spend a few days in the Austrian capital to recover from her ordeal.

"I came to Vienna because I heard it was a calm and relaxing place," Saberi said. "I know you have many questions but I need some more time to think about what happened to me over the past couple of days."

Her father, Reza Saberi, said they were staying with a friend in Austria.

Saberi, poised and smiling, thanked all those who supported her during her ordeal - including Austria's ambassador to Iran and his family.

"Both journalists and non-journalists around the world, I've been hearing, supported me very much and it was very moving for me to hear this," Saberi said.

Saberi, referring to several statements made about her case over the past few days, stressed she was the only one who knew what really happened.

"Nobody knows about it as well as I do and I will talk about it more in the future, I hope, but I am not prepared at this time," she said.

The 32-year-old journalist, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, and moved to Iran six years ago, was arrested in late January and was convicted of spying for the United States in a brief, closed-door trial that her Iranian-born father said lasted only 15 minutes.

She was freed on Monday and reunited with her parents, who had come to Iran to seek her release, after an appeals court reduced her sentence to a two years jail suspended.

The United States had said the charges against Saberi were baseless and repeatedly demanded her release. The case against her had become an obstacle to US President Barack Obama's attempts at dialogue with the top US adversary in the Middle East.

At one point, Saberi held a hunger strike to protest her imprisonment, but she ended it after two weeks when her parents, visiting her in prison, asked her to stop because her health was weakening.

Saberi had worked as a freelance journalist for several organisations, including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.

After her arrest, Iranian authorities initially accused her of working without press credentials, but later levelled the far more serious charge of spying. Iran released few details about the allegations that she passed intelligence to the US.
 

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