US-Iranian reporter gets eight years in jail

After a five-day closed trial, US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison by a court in Iran, accused of spying for the United States. It is the harshest sentence of its kind given to a dual national.An Iranian court has sentenced an Iranian-American journalist accused of spying for the United States to eight years in jail, her lawyer told Reuters on Saturday.The sentencing of Roxana Saberi could become a source of tension between Iran and the United States at a time when Washington is trying to reach out to the Islamic Republic following three decades of mutual hostility."She has been sentenced to eight years ... I will appeal," lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi said.The United States earlier this week called the charges against Saberi "baseless and without foundation" and demanded her immediate release.Saberi, 31, is a citizen of both the United States and Iran but Tehran does not recognize dual nationality. It announced the espionage charges against her last week.