Nobelist Lawyer Defends US Prisoner in Iran

Ebadi urges bail release for journalist Roxana Saberi
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 21, 2009 5:58 AM CDT
Nobelist Lawyer Defends US Prisoner in Iran
Two women tie a ribbon in support of journalist Roxana Saberi, a dual American-Iranian citizen Monday, April 20, 2009, near the home of Saberi's parents.   (AP Photo/The Forum, Michael Vosburg)

Shirin Ebadi, the dissident Iranian human rights lawyer who won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize, will defend the Iranian-American journalist sentenced this weekend to 8 years in prison, reports the Washington Post. Ebadi is seeking to secure a bail release for Roxana Saberi, who was convicted of spying for the United States after initially being accused of other offenses.

US officials, including President Obama, have called for Saberi's release from prison, and the head of Iran's judiciary said yesterday that Saberi was entitled to an appeal hearing "in a careful, quick, and fair way." But one of the journalist's lawyers said she was being prevented from signing legal papers, and prison authorities had stopped her from meeting one of her legal team's representatives. (More Roxana Saberi stories.)

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