Freed U.S. Journalist Thanks Clinton for Support

Iranian-American Roxana Saberi thanks the Secretary of State

 An American journalist who spent four months in an Iranian prison met Wednesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and expressed thanks for support she received while incarcerated.

"When I found that I had this support while I was in prison I gained a lot of strength and hope and I didn't feel so alone any more," Roxana Saberi told reporters as she stood beside Clinton, with Saberi's parents seated nearby.

Saberi did not respond to questions.

Clinton said she was relieved to have the matter resolved.

"This was a matter of great concern to our country, certainly to the Obama administration and to me personally not only as secretary of state but as a mother," Clinton said. "My heart went out to Roxana and to her parents every single day."

The 32-year-old journalist arrived back in the United States last Friday after spending a week in Vienna recuperating after being released from prison in Iran. Saberi was arrested in late January and convicted of spying for the United States in a closed-door trial that her Iranian-born father said lasted only 15 minutes.

She was freed May 11 and reunited with her parents, who had come to Iran to seek her release, after an appeals court reduced her sentence to two years suspended.

The United States had said the charges against Saberi were baseless and repeatedly demanded her release.

Saberi, who moved to Iran six years ago, has dual citizenship.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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