American Freelance Journalist Met With Lawyer in Prison in Iran

FARGO, North Dakota-An American journalist detained in Iran showed no signs of physical torture during a prison visit from a lawyer sent by her father, he said Sunday.The lawyer did not see any visible signs that the man's daughter had been tortured during his visit Sunday, but Reza Saberi said "certainly, they have interrogated her under pressure."The Iran Foreign Ministry has said Roxana Saberi, 31, was detained because she continued working in Iran after the government revoked her press credentials in 2006. A spokesman for the Iranian judiciary has said she was being held in Evin prison north of Tehran.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has called for Saberi's release.Reza Saberi told The Associated Press that Roxana apparently will be able to have visitors in prison but there was no word on when she will be released.She asked the lawyer for books from her apartment,he said.He also said his daughter appeared depressed but seemed to cheer up when the lawyer told her that efforts were under way to win her release."It's a step in the right direction," Reza Saberi said of the lawyer's visit. "I think right now, until this morning, we didn't know if she was even alive."Her parents have not heard from her since Feb. 10.Roxana Saberi, who was born in the United States to her Iranian father and Japanese mother and grew up in Fargo, has lived in Iran for six years working as a freelance journalist. She has reported for National Public Radio and other media.Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Iran for arresting journalists and suppressing freedom of speech.The government has arrested several Iranian-Americans in the past few years, citing alleged attempts to overthrow its Islamic regime.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,506840,00.html

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