Isahaq Kaippatta Autobiography Roxana Saberi Roxana Saberi Persian born April 26 1977 is an American Iranian journalist of Japanese and Iranian descent who was arrested in Iran in February 2009 initially for the purchase of a bottle of wine which is banned under Islamic laws 1 2 and then charged with working as a reporter without press credentials which were revoked in 2006 On 8 April 2009 the Iranian government charged Saberi with espionage and she was subsequently sentenced to an eight year prison term 3 4 5 6 Her plight is being followed by Amnesty International 7 Human Rights Watch 8 the Asian American Journalists Association 9 Committee to Protect Journalists 10 Society of Professional Journalists and UNITY Journalists of Color Inc 11 Biography edit Early life Saberi was born and grew up in Fargo North Dakota the daughter of Reza Saberi who was born in Iran and Akiko Saberi who is from Japan Graduating with honors from Fargo North High School in 1994 Roxana played piano and soccer and took part in Key Club and danceline 12 Saberi was inducted into the school s Hall of Fame in 2007 12 She graduated in 1997 from Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota with degrees in Communication and French Saberi also played for the Cobbers soccer team in both the 1994 and 1996 season 13 Chosen as Miss North Dakota in 1997 13 she was among the top ten finalists in Miss America 1998 winning the Scholar Award 12 Saberi holds her first Master s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University and her second Master s Degree in International Relations from Cambridge University 12 She was working on another Masters Degree in Iranian Studies and International Relations at the time of her arrest Career Saberi who works a freelance journalist moved to Iran in 2003 She arrived in Tehran in February 2003 to open a fully accredited news bureau for the independent broadcast news agency Feature Story News FSN FSN distributed her reports to a wide range of broadcasters around the world and Roxana s work soon became familiar to the viewers and listeners of Channel News Asia South African Broadcasting DW Radio Vatican Radio Radio New Zealand Australian Independent Radio News and others She also made occasional contributions to PBS NPR and Fox News In June 2003 without explanation the Iranian authorities revoked Roxana s press accreditation and closed the FSN bureau in Iran A second press accreditation was then issued permitting Roxana Saberi to freelance in Iran for the BBC In late 2006 it was also peremptorily revoked Roxana Saberi remained in Iran to research a book and filed occasional reports from the country for NPR and ABC Radio Accusation of spying Saberi s father reported that he last heard from her on February 10 2009 and that she reported being held in detention for 10 days at that time Saberi holds both Iranian and US citizenship although the Iranian authorities do not recognise dual citizenship and were believed to be treating her as one of their own nationals 14 Saberi was arrested in February 2009 for espionage 1 2 Saberi was first charged on March 2 while working as a reporter without press credentials which were revoked in 2006 15 On March 13 a number of international news organisations wrote an open letter to the Iranian government calling on Iran to allow independent access to Saberi Signatories included president of NPR Vivian Schiller president of ABC News David Westin Wall Street Journal editor in chief Robert Thomson John Stack of Fox News and World Editor at the BBC Jon Williams The open letter expresses deep concern about Saberi s well being and the deprivation of her rights 16 17 We now ask that one or more international organizations that have responsibilities and rights under the Geneva Conventions be permitted access to Roxana immediately to ascertain her health and well being and to determine the conditions under which she is held If no charges are filed we now urge her immediate release and ask that she be given permission to return to her home country the United States After a month long period of captivity on March 13 a family attorney was allowed to see Saberi and she was allowed to call her family 15 On March 18 marking 47 days of detention the Saberi family called on Iran s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to intervene ahead of the Persian Nowruz holiday 18 The US administration expressed its concern at Saberi s detention dismissing allegations against her as baseless US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has demanded her release 19 On April 6 her parents were allowed a 30 minute visit to S