US journalist freed by Iran

An American journalist jailed for five months in Iran was freed on Monday and reunited with her parents after an appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence on charges of spying for the US.

Roxana Saberi,a 32-year-old dual Iranian-American citizen,met her parents outside Evin prison on Monday evening after the court cut her jail term to a two-year suspended sentence,her lawyers said. While they awaited her release,her mother,in a headscarf,smiled while her father looked overcome with emotion.

She was reunited with her father and mother. They left for their house, said her lawyer Saleh Nikbakht.

Her father Reza Saberi said he planned to return home with his daughter in the next few days. The family lives in Fargo,North Dakota and her parents have been in Iran for several weeks seeking their daughters freedom.

Irans about-face clears a major snag in the Obama administrations efforts to engage Iran in a dialogue after decades of shunning the country.