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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Iran to hear US reporter appeal | Iran to hear US reporter appeal |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| 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. | 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. | "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. | 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. | |
| Hunger strike | |
| 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. | |
| She originally faced the less serious accusation of buying alcohol, and later of working as a reporter without a valid press card. | |
| Then, in a period of less than two weeks, the charge of spying was introduced, and she was tried and sentenced behind closed doors by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. | |
| Ms Saberi, who holds dual US and Iranian citizenship, has spent six years in Iran studying and writing a book. |