Roxana Saberi
Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi became the center of a dramatic political struggle in early 2009 when she was imprisoned in Iran. She had moved to Tehran in 2003 to open a news bureau for Feature Story News (FSN) and had since become a well-known reporter to broadcast audiences around the world. Placed in solitary confinement and interrogated for hours, she was eventually convicted of espionage and given an eight-year sentence.
The outpouring of support—led by several international news organizations and human rights groups, as well as the US State Department—helped to secure her release some five months later. Since returning to the US, Saberi has written a memoir of her experience, entitled Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran, and continues to speak out on behalf of the many women who remain prisoners of conscience in Iran.