Freed US reporter in Iran says wants to 'relax'

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 at 11:39 PM Posted by Beijing News


US-born reporter Roxana Saberi, who was freed from an Iranian jail, said on Tuesday she has no immediate plans for the future and for now merely wants to "relax" with her family.

"At the moment I have no plan, I want to be with my family and relax," Saberi said in her first interaction with reporters after she walked free on Monday.

Saberi was released from prison after an Iranian court reduced her initial eight-year prison term, delivered on charges of spying for the United States, to a two-year suspended sentence.

Saberi in her brief comments to reporters Tuesday thanked those who helped secure her release.

"I am very happy and thankful to all the people who helped me. I want to be with my family... with my mother and my father," said Saberi, wearing a blue headscarf and a black monteau.

Saberi, 32, was arrested in January. Her eight-year jail sentence had caused deep concern in Washington and among human rights groups.

The sentence against her was the harshest ever meted out to a dual national on security charges in Iran and came just weeks after US President Barack Obama proposed dialogue with Tehran after three decades of severed ties.

Reza Saberi, the journalist's father, speaking separately to reporters, said the family was preparing to take her back to the United States.

"We are preparing for it. She wants to relax for the next one or two days, but we don't know how long it will take to get back," he said.

He said his daughter is also "recovering now that she is surrounded by her family and friends."

He also said that Roxana was "not tortured" during her stay in the prison, but added that she had still not fully related her experiences in prison.

"She is telling us little by little about the jail experience. The prison atmosphere is pressurised and not good for anyone," Saberi said.

In an interview with US-based National Public Radio NPR Saberi said his daughter's quick release had come as a surprise.

"We were very excited when this came unexpectedly. We were thinking we would hear something but this was very fast," he said.

He added that his daughter is free to leave and return to Iran.

"They did not prevent her travel into or outside of the country," he said, adding however, "It is unlikely she will come back. She will start working in the States most probably, or another place."

The family, he added, planned to return to the US "pretty soon."

Saberi had been accused of "cooperating with a hostile state," a charge which carries a prison term of one to 10 years. Washington dismissed the allegations as baseless.





Kashmiri Muslims paddle at sunset on Dal Lake in Srinagar. AFP/Tauseef Mustafa

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