Roxana Saberi, an American-Iranian journalist freelancing in Iran, has been released after an appeal of her conviction and eight-year sentence for spying for the United States. Saberi, who had been jailed for three months and recently endured a two-week hunger strike, can immediately leave the country after her sentence was reduced to two years, suspended. Her appeal lasted several hours-much longer than the original trial- and her defense team was able to make arguments on her behalf, after an international outcry convinced Tehran to make the appeal look fair and open.
Friends in her hometown of Fargo are overjoyed:
Iran is promising a complete review of the espionage case, but as of now, Saberi is barred from practicing journalism in the country for five years. Mark Ambinder lays out the debate about Iran, based on this news. The United States was, for an instant, rejoicing in the true bipartisan joy this announcement made possible for all free people until a liberal blogger discovered that Saberi is a former beauty pageant queen (Miss North Dakota, 1997) who wrote for Fox News during her freelance career. Saberi will now presumably report back to America for her scheduled character assassination, ala Carrie Prejean and Sarah Palin. Har.
