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Reporter still on hunger strike in Iran jail

Iran Materials 4 May 2009 12:37 (UTC +04:00)

US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, awaiting an appeal against her eight-year jail sentence for espionage, is continuing her hunger strike that began 12 days ago, her father said on Sunday, AFP reported.

"She told us in a very short phone conversation yesterday that her hunger strike is still on," Reza Saberi told AFP.

Saberi, 32, who was jailed last month after being convicted of spying for Iran's archfoe the United States, went on hunger strike on April 21 in protest at the sentence.

Her father said at the time that Saberi -- whose case has raised deep concern in Washington and among human rights groups -- was taking only water or sugared-water.

But the Iranian judiciary has denied that she was refusing to eat or that her health had been affected.

"She was very upset when she heard the judiciary had denied that. So she even stopped drinking water, which led her to a brief hospitalisation on Friday in the prison's clinic," Reza Saberi said.

He said he and his wife are trying to persuade her to end the hunger strike.

Saberi has been held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since late January, when she was initially reported to have been arrested for buying alcohol, an illegal act in the Islamic republic.

The verdict against the former US beauty queen is the harshest sentence ever meted out to a dual national on security charges in Iran, and comes just weeks after US President Barack Obama proposed better ties with Tehran.

Obama on Friday reiterated that he was "especially concerned" about Saberi, who was jailed on charges Washington insists are unfounded, and two other US women journalists detained in North Korea.

US-born Saberi, who is also of Japanese descent, has reported for US National Public Radio, the BBC and Fox News, and has lived in Iran for the past six years.

On Saturday, visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone expressed concern over her fate at a joint news conference in Tehran with Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, who said Saberi had violated Iranian laws.

"Ms Saberi, like any Iranian who violates the regulations, has been prosecuted," Mottaki said. "But in her case an appeal has been made and the appeal will be looked at with justice and compassion."

On April 20, Tokyo said the jailing of Saberi was regrettable and that Tokyo hopes to be a mediator between Washington and Tehran.

Saberi has both US and Iranian citizenship, but Tehran does not recognize dual nationality.

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