Iran ends appeal hearing of jailed US reporter

An Iranian court ended a hearing on Sunday on the appeal by U.S.-born journalist Roxana Saberi against her eight-year jail sentence for espionage and is expected to issue a verdict in coming days, her lawyer said.

"I'm hopeful and optimistic that there will be fundamental changes in the sentence," defense lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi told reporters outside the court building in Tehran.

Saberi, a 32-year-old freelance reporter, came to court this morning looking pale and gaunt and wearing a dark blue chador and white slippers, was brought to the Tehran courthouse by three guards, an AFP correspondent said.

"It is possible that they give a verdict today. I reckon that there will generally be a reduction (in her sentence)," Saberi's lawyer Abdolsamad Khoramshahi said.

He said that he hearing was held behind closed doors.

Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi as saying he believed the ruling by the appeal court's three-judge panel "will be fair and lawful."

"I cannot predict whether Saberi will be acquitted or the same verdict will be upheld," he said, adding that he was unsure whether the court would deliver the verdict on Sunday.

I cannot predict whether Saberi will be acquitted or the same verdict will be upheld

Ali Reza Jamshidi, Judiciary spokesman

American-born Saberi, 32, was first arrested in January reportedly for buying alcohol, an act prohibited in the Islamic republic, and detained in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.

But last month a revolutionary court in Tehran sentenced her to an eight-year jail term for spying for the United States, causing deep consternation in Washington and among human rights groups.

Her father Reza Saberi said on Saturday he believed "the case will be handled more moderately this time" by the court of appeals.

He was present at the courthouse on Sunday but not inside the courtroom.

Khoramshahi said on Saturday that he hoped the court would hear the defense’s case "carefully" this time.

"I do hope and I am optimistic she will be acquitted," he said.

Saberi, a former U.S. beauty queen, launched a hunger strike on April 21 in protest at her jail sentence, taking in only water or sugared water, but she ended it after about two weeks.

Her father said last week that she was briefly hospitalized during the hunger strike.

I do hope and I am optimistic she will be acquitted

Khoramshahi

Fair and Lawful trial

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saberi's appeal would be looked at "with justice and compassion."

The verdict against Saberi is the harshest sentence ever meted out to a dual national on security charges in Iran, and comes just weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama proposed better ties with Tehran.

The United States dismissed the charges against Saberi as baseless and called for her release. Obama said he was "especially concerned" about Saberi as well as two other U.S. women journalists being detained in North Korea.

Judiciary spokesman Jamshidi brushed off concerns raised by Washington, saying Saberi's case had "been treated according to law in the preliminary stage" too.

"If you want to look at what America says and what other countries want and listen to other governments ... we have to then put down pen and paper and sit back," he said.

Iran, which does not recognize dual nationality, said Saberi had continued working "illegally" after her press card was revoked in 2006. Saberi reported for U.S. National Public Radio, the BBC and Fox News, and has lived in Iran for the past six years.

If you want to look at what America says and what other countries want and listen to other governments, we have to then put down pen and paper and sit back

Ali Reza Jamshidi, Judiciary spokesman