U.S. journalist freed on appeal in Iran

Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist who has been imprisoned in Tehran since her arrest in January, was released Monday after she won her appeal of an eight-year sentence for alleged spying, The Washington Post reports.

Saberi was born in the United States, but has an Iranian passport and has worked there as a journalist since 2003. She was originally detained in January for buying wine. The reported charges were later bumped up to working without a press card, and ultimately conducting espionage for  the United States.

At her April trial, Saberi was convicted of spying. According to The Post, her appeal was heard in an appeals court Sunday and her original sentence was replaced with a two-year suspended prison term. Now released, the paper said, she is free to stay in Iran or to leave, but she cannot work as a reporter in Iran for five years.