THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Father of journalist sentenced for spying says she must be 'very weak' after five days without food
Roxana Saberi, the US-Iranian reporter jailed a week ago in Tehran on charges of spying that are untested in open court, has gone on hunger strike and is in a fragile state, according to her family and associates. Her father, Reza Saberi, said yesterday: "She went on a hunger strike on Tuesday to protest her imprisonment." He said she will continue "until she is freed", but added: "I am pretty certain that she must be very weak now."
The journalist, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, a city where yellow ribbons on trees now mark her incarceration, is 32 today, a birthday she will spend in Evin prison. She was arrested in January and initially accused – reports differ – of working without press credentials, or buying alcohol. But an Iranian judge later charged her with passing intelligence to the US. She was convicted after a one-day trial behind closed doors, and sentenced to eight years in prison. >>> By David Randall | Sunday, April 26, 2009
