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Roxana Saberi: 'I'm happy to be free'

  • Story Highlights
  • Father of Roxana Saberi says they plan to leave Iran soon
  • Saberi, 32, was convicted last month on espionage charges
  • Her sentence was changed to a two-year jail term, suspended for five years
  • She has lived in Iran since 2003, reporting for international news organizations

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(CNN) -- Freed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi thanked friends and family Tuesday for their support during her ordeal in an Iranian prison, and said she plans to spend the next few days relaxing.

Roxana Saberi stopped her hunger strike last week after her parents visited her in prison.

Roxana Saberi smiles ouside her home in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday.

"I am, of course, very happy to be free and to be with my parents again," a smiling Saberi, 32, told reporters.

Saberi, who was dressed in a black tunic and a blue headscarf, said she was only now learning of a global support campaign on her behalf.

"I want to thank all the people all over the world, who, whether they knew me or not, helped me and my family during this period," she said. "I don't have any specific plans for the moment. I just want to be with my parents and my friends and to relax."

Reza Saberi, her father, said they plan to leave Iran soon.

Saberi was convicted last month on espionage charges in a one-day trial that was closed to the public. She was sentenced to eight years in prison after being accused of spying for the United States.

A judge changed Saberi's sentence during an appeal hearing Monday. The court agreed with her lawyers that, because Iran is not at war with the United States, Saberi cannot be punished for cooperating with agents of a hostile nation, according to Saberi's spokesman, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi.

Her sentence was changed to a two-year jail term, suspended for five years, Iran's state-run news agency IRNA reported.

Saberi was detained in January after initially being accused of buying a bottle of wine and working as a journalist without proper accreditation, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group. She was soon charged with espionage.

Saberi went on a hunger strike while imprisoned, but her father said she has since put on some weight.

All About Roxana SaberiIranMahmoud Ahmadinejad

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