As reported by BBC News, an appeal will begin next week for US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, who was sentenced to eight years in jail for spying, an Iranian official has said. ‘There has been a date set for next week,’ judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi told a news conference, giving no further details.
Ms Saberi, 32, was sentenced behind closed doors by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran last month. US President Barack Obama has appealed for her release. Mr Obama and the Saberi family have dismissed the charges as baseless, insisting that she is not a US spy.
Ms Saberi’s father says she has been on hunger strike since 21 April in protest at the sentence. But Iranian officials have denied that she was refusing to eat or that her health had been affected.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has refused to intervene in the case, saying the courts acted independently and that she will be accorded her full rights. Iranian authorities earlier said they would hear her appeal fairly and quickly. The journalist has been in jail in Tehran since January.