TEHRAN — An American journalist convicted by Iran of spying for the U.S. has gone on a hunger strike to protest her eight-year prison sentence, her father said Saturday.
Reza Saberi said his daughter, Roxana, 31, began her hunger strike in Evin Prison in Tehran on Tuesday. She was sentenced after a one-day trial found her guilty of using her role as a reporter to spy for U.S. intelligence services.
“She told me she began her hunger strike five days ago,” said Reza Saberi, who left his home in North Dakota two weeks ago to follow the case in Iran. “She might drink, but she doesn’t eat anything. She told me she will continue this strike until she gets her freedom. Her lawyer went to court today to file her appeal to the charges against her.”
The Obama administration contends Saberi is innocent and has demanded that her conviction and sentence be overturned. The case has complicated U.S. moves toward reconciliation with the Islamic Republic, which is amid an election campaign regarded as a battle between moderates and hard-liners linked to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
In recent days Ahmadinejad has indicated he does not want the Saberi ordeal to detract from negotiations with the U.S., most notably over Iran’s nuclear programs. Ahmadinejad and the country’s chief judge have stressed that Saberi should receive a swift and fair appeal — a sign that the harsh sentence was the wrong message to send during President Barack Obama’s efforts to improve diplomacy between the nations.
Some analysts have suggested that the Saberi case was orchestrated by hard-liners opposed to closer ties with the U.S. Others have said that Ahmadinejad, a populist conservative, saw the detention of the journalist as a way to test the resolve of the new Obama administration.
Saberi told her father she was detained in January for buying alcohol, which is forbidden in Iran. She was charged later with espionage.
Human-rights groups have condemned the verdict. Journalists’ organizations said the case symbolizes Iran’s poor civil-rights record and is an attempt to intimidate reporters before the June elections.
Saberi had reported for the British Broadcasting Corp. and National Public Radio, and was working on a book about Iran’s culture and politics.
Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Fleishman from Cairo.
