Roxana Saberi Returns to U.S.
Formerly imprisoned journalist Roxana Saberi will be heading home soon after spending a few days in the nation's capital.
The 32-year-old North Dakota native, who spent around 100 days in an Iranian prison, landed on U.S. soil Friday, just as fellow Americans across the nation prepared to remember those who died for the very freedoms she held on to during her confinement.
Saberi told reporters when she arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., that singing the national anthem helped keep her going.
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"And it may sound corny, but I'm so happy to be home in the land of the free," said the Fargo-born journalist.
Saberi had moved to Iran about six years ago to learn more about her cultural heritage while working as a freelance journalist for news organizations including NPR, BBC, and Fox.
Though her press credentials had been revoked in 2006, Saberi remained in Iran as a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen but intended to return to the United States "for good" this year after finishing a book she was writing.
In January, however, Saberi was arrested when she purchased a bottle of wine – which is illegal in Iran. Then, on April 9, Iran leveled a far more serious charge – espionage, which she was convicted for last month after a closed-door hearing that her father said only lasted 15 minutes.
Upon appeal of Saberi's eight-year prison sentence, a court reduced her jail term to a two-year suspended sentence and allowed her to leave the country on the condition that she not report from Iran for the next five years.
Since her release on May 11, Saberi has been recuperating in Vienna.
"I came to Vienna because I heard it was a calm and relaxing place," she told reporters.
On Friday, Saberi thanked those who supported her during her imprisonment, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, North Dakota lawmakers, and human rights groups.
Other prominent figures who had appealed to Iranian officials included Hirofumi Nakasone, Japan's foreign minister, and the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, whose denomination established her alma mater, Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.
Saberi had been scheduled to speak at Concordia's commencement ceremony on May 3 before her arrest in January.
