US-born journalist Roxana Saberi is to be freed soon after an Iranian appeals court cut her eight-year jail sentence for spying to a suspended two-year term.
A judicial source said Saberi, whose jailing on charges of spying for the US became a new source of tension between Tehran and Washington, had already been released and would be allowed to leave Iran.
But Saberi’s father Reza Saberi said she had not yet walked free after more than three months in detention, saying he was waiting in front of Evin prison in northern Tehran.
“She will be freed today, hopefully. The papers are ready ... it is just a matter of time, a couple of hours,” he said by telephone.
Reza Saberi said he and his Japanese wife Akiko would “bring our daughter back home,” apparently referring to the US.
The development came a day after an appeals court held a hearing on the case of Saberi, who has worked for the BBC and US National Public Radio.
The lawyer said Saberi would be banned from doing any reporting work in Iran for five years.
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