Iran frees Roxana Saberi

A key piece of evidence brought about her conviction on espionage charges. Roxana Saberi possessed a copy of a classified report by the Iranian government report about the United States war in Iraq. The prosecutors accused Saberi of passing the document on to American officials.

But a letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asking for a careful review of Saberi's case, apparently, influenced her release.

Saberi is free now and will, most likely, leave Iran within a few days. The court reduced her sentence from 8 years in prison to a suspended two-year term and banned her from practicing journalism in Iran for 5 years.

The move to release Saberi may help the Obama administration's efforts to improve relations with Iran. Obama welcomed the decision as a "humanitarian gesture."

"I'm very happy to be released and to be with my father and mother again," Saberi told reporters in Tehran. "I'm thanking all those people around the world who knew me or who didn't know me but helped my release. Right now I just want to be with my parents and my friends and to relax," Saberi said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, though "thrilled" by Saberi's release, offered a swift reminder: "Several Iranian journalists remain jailed today. We urge they be given the same opportunity for judicial review."