Iran court to review Saberi case

An Iranian court will hold a hearing on Sunday on the appeal filed by jailed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi against her eight-year prison sentence for espionage, her lawyer said on Saturday.

"The appeal court's hearing will be tomorrow," Saberi's lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi told Reuters.

Khorramshahi said he did not know when the court would issue its verdict, "The verdict could come next week or any other time. It is not clear when (it would come)."

Saberi was jailed on April 18 on charges of spying for the United States, Iran's arch foe. Her father said the 32-year-old reporter started a hunger strike on April 21 in Tehran's Evin prison to protest her jail sentence and ended it on Monday.

The U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, who has offered a new start in engaging with Iran if it "unclenches its fist", says the espionage charges against Saberi are baseless and has demanded her immediate release.

The case could complicate Washington's efforts towards reconciliation with the Islamic Republic after three decades of mutual mistrust.