ABC News’ Kirit Radia reports:
Roxana Saberi touched down on U.S. soil today after four months in a notorious Iranian prison.
The journalist told reporters upon arrival in Washington, D.C., that she sustained her spirits during her detention by signing the national anthem to herself. Incidentally, the lyrics to “The Star Spangled Banner” were written by Francis Scott Key as he was detained aboard a British ship in 1814.
“One thing that kept me going in prison was singing the national anthem to myself,” Saberi said. “And it may sound corny, but I’m so happy to be back home in the land of the free.”
As Saberi emerged from customs, she was greeted by loud cheers and applause from members of the crowd at Dulles International Airport on hand to welcome their own family members, but who were tipped off to Saberi’s arrival by the large number of television cameras on hand.
Saberi thanked President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the congressional delegation from her native North Dakota and the media for keeping her story alive. She also had thanks for the Iranian people who helped her parents through a difficult time.
Saberi, a U.S. citizen whose father emigrated from Iran, was a freelance journalist in Iran for the past six years. She was detained by Iranian authorities earlier this year, but the charges against her changed several times. She initially was charged with operating with expired press credentials, then for having purchased a bottle of wine against Iranian law. Finally, she was put on trial for espionage, allegedly for having obtained an Iranian government report about the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.
The Obama administration vigorously denied she was a U.S. spy and urged that she be released on “humanitarian” grounds. Saberi herself went on a hunger strike to protest the charges.
She finally was released two weeks ago after an intervention by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is running for re-election next month.
Political News 