saberi

Roxana Saberi, who was imprisoned in Iran for nearly four months, published a statement on her personal Web site to Euna Lee and Laura Ling after their release from North Korea on Tuesday. Saberi had previously expressed her support for the two imprisoned journalists in an interview with CPJ on June 9.

Roxana Saberi, who was imprisoned in Iran for nearly four months, offers her thoughts on the detentions of U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee in North Korea. In this interview with CPJ, Saberi, left, said she was "amazed and very moved at the support I received" while in prison. "You are not alone," she advised her jailed colleagues. Here is the interview:

May 2009

News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

Roxana Saberi was released on Monday after more than four months imprisonment at Tehran's Evin Prison. She had been convicted of spying for the U.S. in a closed-door, one-hour trial on April 18 in a notoriously harsh Iranian Revolutionary Court and given an eight-year jail sentence. On Sunday, a court of appeal in Tehran gave Saberi and her two lawyers a chance to present their appeal. CPJ spoke to Saleh Nikbakht, one of the lawyers, about the trial. 

New York, May 11, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the release today of freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, and called on the Iranian government to safeguard the rights of several other journalists currently in jail.

New York, May 11, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued the following statement in response to reports that freelance journalist Roxana Saberi, who had been imprisoned in Iran, has been released this morning:

New York, May 9, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is issuing a background paper today that describes the legal issues surrounding the appeal of journalist Roxana Saberi, who is imprisoned in Iran on espionage charges. The appeal is expected to be heard as early as Sunday.

"Information is power, which is precisely why many governments attempt to control the press to suppress opposition and preempt dissent," said U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who three years ago founded the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press. "Far too often, the reporters and editors who demand reform, accountability, and transparency find themselves at risk," he went on. "The censorship, intimidation, imprisonment, and murder of these journalists are not only crimes against these individuals, but they also impact those who are denied access to their ideas and information."

New York, May 5, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the well-being of convicted Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been treated at Evin Prison's hospital during a hunger strike to protest her confinement, according to international news reports. A spokesman for the Iranian judiciary said today that a court of appeals will hear Saberi's case next week, Reuters reported.