American journalist jailed in Iran keeps up hunger strike

TEHRAN, Iran - An American journalist jailed in Iran for allegedly spying for the United States was on her fifth day of a hunger strike yesterday and does not plan to stop until she is freed, her father said.

Roxana Saberi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who will turn 32 today, was convicted more than a week ago and sentenced to eight years in prison after a swift, one-day trial behind closed doors. She began her hunger strike Tuesday to protest her imprisonment, her father said.

"She said that she has started a hunger strike and this is the fifth day and that she will continue until she is free. I tried to tell her that this can be dangerous, but she didn't give me any time to protest," her father, Reza Saberi, told the Associated Press.

The case has been a source of tension between the United States and Iran at a time when the Obama administration has said it wants to engage the country's longtime adversary. The United States has called the accusations against Saberi baseless and demanded her release.

Saberi's father said her attorney appealed the court's ruling yesterday, less than a week after Iran's judiciary spokesman said an Iranian appeals court would reconsider her verdict, an indication her sentence could be commuted.

Iran's judiciary chief has ordered a full investigation into the case, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has urged Tehran's chief prosecutor to ensure that Saberi be allowed a full defense during her appeal.

Saberi was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But this month, a judge leveled the more serious allegation of espionage.

Saberi, who was born in the United States and grew up in Fargo, N.D., moved to Iran six years ago and worked as a freelance journalist for news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp. She received Iranian citizenship because her father was born in Iran.