Roxana Saberi Freed

UPDATE, May 12, 2009: Video: Journalist Roxana Saberi Speaks for First Time Since Release From Iranian Jail
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This Iranian hostage crisis ended much sooner than the one during Jimmy Carter's presidency.

Roxana Saberi didn't have to endure 444 days of captivity.

From Bloomberg:

U.S.-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was freed from prison in Tehran after a court cut her sentence for espionage from eight years in jail to a two-year term, suspended for five years.

The court in Tehran heard an appeal yesterday by 32-year- old Saberi, who was convicted last month after a one-day trial behind closed doors on a charge of spying for the U.S.

“The sentence has been changed to two years suspended,” Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, her lawyer, said today in a phone interview in Tehran. “She is free and can stay or leave the country. It is up to her.”

The original verdict on the journalist, a dual American- Iranian citizen who was raised in the U.S. and lived in Iran for the last six years, was announced April 18. Her conviction and imprisonment drew protests from the U.S. government and human rights groups, with President Barack Obama dismissing the spying allegations against her.

Saberi’s suspended sentence will lapse provided she doesn’t commit an offense in five years, Khorramshahi said, adding that she has been banned from working as a journalist in Iran during that period. “When the verdict was given she wept out of joy. She was very happy, she thanked the court,” said the lawyer, who said he was satisfied with the “fair” ruling.

“I am glad this injustice has been reversed and Roxana Saberi is now free to return home,” Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar said today in a statement. “The government of Iran should never have used this young American journalist as a pawn in their international game.”

...Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who served as a vice president under former President Mohammad Khatami between 2001 and 2004, also welcomed the outcome.

Saberi’s case was an example of “using human life and freedoms for political gain,” said Abtahi, who is now an adviser to ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karrubi, a candidate in the June 12 presidential election. “This behavior is neither good for Iran’s judiciary nor its government.

“The government may be trying to calm the internal situation before the elections,” Abtahi said in a phone interview from Tehran. “It may, as well, be a message of cooperation to the West in anticipation of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s victory.”

Thank God the Iranian government determined that holding Saberi hostage was not in its best interests, both internally and internationally.

As both Klobuchar and Abtahi said, Saberi was used as pawn.

This time "using human life and freedoms for political gain" was not deemed beneficial to Iran, unlike the hostage crisis in 1979-1980.

So Iran did a 180 on Saberi.

I hope this episode isn't lost on Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the State Department. I hope they've learned how justice is meted out in Iran.

In any event, Saberi's release is cause for great relief.