wfn.org | ELCA College Alumna Freed from Iranian Prison

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

Title: ELCA College Alumna Freed from Iranian Prison
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

>May 11, 2009  

>ELCA College Alumna Freed from Iranian Prison
>09-112-SH

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- News of a Lutheran college alumna's release
from an Iranian prison on May 11 was met with cheers of joy and
prayers of gratitude across the nation's largest Lutheran
denomination.

American journalist Roxana Saberi, 32, was convicted of
espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison by an Iranian
court in April. The former Miss North Dakota is a 1997 graduate of
Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.

"This is a day to celebrate," said Dr. Pamela Jolicouer,
Concordia's president. Concordia is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, appealed
to Iranian officials by letter in April to free Saberi. He
welcomed the news of her freedom.

"Her release after this long, unfortunate ordeal brings a
sense of relief not only to her family and friends, but also to
those who have called upon the Iranian authorities for her to
be freed," Hanson said in a statement.

Saberi had engaged in a hunger strike after her conviction
in April. She broke down in tears after hearing the judge's
ruling on her appeal, according to news reports.

The judge handed down a two-year suspended sentenced and
banned Saberi from reporting from Iran for five years. She is
free to leave the country, her lawyer told reporters.

Saberi moved to Iran in 2003 and worked as a freelance
journalist for National Public Radio and other news outlets.
Iranian officials arrested her in January, saying they had
revoked her press credentials three years earlier.

"In a culture with no free press, any kind of reporting
will seem like espionage," Catherine McMulle, who taught
Saberi at Concordia, said in a recent statement.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton had said Saberi was innocent and urged her release.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pressed Iranian courts
for a thorough review after her conviction.

The case threatened to unravel a possible thaw in U.S.
relations with Iran. The U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Iran
in 1979 in response to the Islamic Revolution.

Saberi was born in the United States and grew up in Fargo,
N.D., with her Japanese mother and Iranian father. After earning
a degree in communications and French from Concordia, she
pursued graduate degrees from Northwestern University, Evanston,
Ill., and Cambridge University, England.

She was crowned Miss North Dakota in 1997, then placed in
the top 10 at the Miss America pageant. A newspaper called her
"the pageant brain" after she won the first-ever Miss America
Scholar award for her 3.97 grade point average.

Hundreds of students and faculty at Concordia signed a
petition on her behalf after her conviction. They also sold
"Free Roxana" yellow ribbon pins to help with the legal and
travel expenses for Saberi's family.

Saberi had been scheduled to deliver Concordia's May 3
commencement address. Journalist Margo Melnicove, her former
mentor, spoke in her place. Melnicove paid tribute to Saberi
in a talk titled "Lessons Learned from a Concordia Graduate."

>---

A transcript of Margo Melnicove's commencement address
is at http://www.cord.edu/Academics/commencement/address.php
on the Web. Biographical information about Roxana Saberi is at
http://www.cord.edu/News/saberinews/bio.php on the Web. Other
information is available at  http://www.roxanasaberi.com or
http://freeroxana.net on the Web.

For information contact:

John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog