Victim Roxana Saberi

Pretty Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi became a well known victim in February 2009 when she was arrested and jailed in Iran, where she had been working since 2003.

At first, authorities charged her with buying a bottle of wine, an act forbidden by that country's unofficial but very powerful "religion police."

Next she was charged with reporting without press credentials, and finally, she was accused of espionage and received an eight-year sentence. As this writing in May 2009, she remains imprisoned near Tehran.

Saberi, born in the USA to an Iranian-American father and a Japanese-American mother, grew up in North Dakota. She holds dual citizenship, in the U.S. and in Iran.

She won the title of Miss North Dakota in 1997, and she holds two master's degrees--one from Northwestern, the other from Cambridge University. She was at work on a third master's degree, in Iranian studies, when arrested.

Saberi came to Iran with Feature Story News, eventually losing her press accreditation. She was reinstated and worked for BBC until her credentials were again taken away, after which she was allowed to work on a book project and freelance for U.S. broadcast media.

In April 2009, she began a hunger strike to protest her innocence. A U.S. group calling itself "Free Roxana" has joined in the hunger strike, as have members of the group Reporters Without Borders in France.The U.S. government is hoping to get her released via diplomatic channels.

Possibly due to President Barack Obama's less militaristic tone with Iran, an Iranian appeals court reduced her sentence to two years, suspended, and rule she could go free provided she did not work in Iran for five years. She was released in May 2009.