Spring Break
Saberi freed from prison
Zohaib Ahmad
Issue date: 5/15/09 Section: News
Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist, was released from prison in Iran May 11.
"I'm of course very happy to be free and with my parents again," Saberi said in front of her Tehran apartment building May 12.
Saberi's sentence for spying was reduced from eight years, allowing her to leave the country, and she had denied the charges.
According to Lawrence Souder, an auxiliary instructor of communication at Drexel, Saberi showed great courage by standing up for her rights as a journalist.
"Saberi is a brave woman. Not only did she continue to be a journalist in a country that didn't have a free press, she went on a hunger strike," Souder said.
Saberi went on a two-week hunger strike protesting her actions at prison.
"I take that as an ethics of action. Here you have a person who committed herself to an ethical action," Souder said.
Souder discussed whether or not students would stick to their profession in times of hardship.
"It's about standing up for your profession," Souder said. "How many people would do that?"
Saberi's spokesman, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, said a judge altered Saberi's sentence during an appeal hearing, May 11. The court and Saberi's lawyers agreed that because Iran is not at war with the U.S., Saberi could not be punished for cooperating with agents of a hostile nation.
She has been banned from working as a journalist in Iran for five years.
Saberi had been studying and writing a book in Tehran when she was arrested in January for allegedly purchasing alcohol, which is illegal in Iran, and later for working as a journalist without a valid press card.
According to the BBC, even President Barack Obama appealed on her behalf.
During Saberi's time at jail, the Obama administration described the allegations against Saberi as "baseless."
"[Obama] was relieved to see that Roxana Saberi has been released. We want to continue to stress that she was wrongly accused, but we welcome this humanitarian gesture," Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, said.
"I'm of course very happy to be free and with my parents again," Saberi said in front of her Tehran apartment building May 12.
Saberi's sentence for spying was reduced from eight years, allowing her to leave the country, and she had denied the charges.
According to Lawrence Souder, an auxiliary instructor of communication at Drexel, Saberi showed great courage by standing up for her rights as a journalist.
"Saberi is a brave woman. Not only did she continue to be a journalist in a country that didn't have a free press, she went on a hunger strike," Souder said.
Saberi went on a two-week hunger strike protesting her actions at prison.
"I take that as an ethics of action. Here you have a person who committed herself to an ethical action," Souder said.
Souder discussed whether or not students would stick to their profession in times of hardship.
"It's about standing up for your profession," Souder said. "How many people would do that?"
Saberi's spokesman, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, said a judge altered Saberi's sentence during an appeal hearing, May 11. The court and Saberi's lawyers agreed that because Iran is not at war with the U.S., Saberi could not be punished for cooperating with agents of a hostile nation.
She has been banned from working as a journalist in Iran for five years.
Saberi had been studying and writing a book in Tehran when she was arrested in January for allegedly purchasing alcohol, which is illegal in Iran, and later for working as a journalist without a valid press card.
According to the BBC, even President Barack Obama appealed on her behalf.
During Saberi's time at jail, the Obama administration described the allegations against Saberi as "baseless."
"[Obama] was relieved to see that Roxana Saberi has been released. We want to continue to stress that she was wrongly accused, but we welcome this humanitarian gesture," Robert Gibbs, a White House spokesman, said.
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