TEHRAN - US-BORN reporter Roxana Saberi walked free from a Tehran jail on Monday after an Iranian court reduced her prison term for spying to a two-year suspended sentence.

'I'm okay. I don't want to make any comments but I am OK,' Ms Saberi told AFP minutes after leaving the notorious Evin prison and being driven away by her father.

Her release comes just a day after a Tehran court heard a closed-door appeal by Ms Saberi, who was initially detained in January reportedly for buying alcohol, an illegal act in the Islamic republic. The case triggered deep concern in Washington, which dismissed the spying charges as baseless, and among human rights groups. ... more

It ends a five-month ordeal for Ms Saberi, who was initially detained in in January and sentenced last month to an eight-year jail term on charges of spying for the United States.

'The verdict of the previous court has been quashed,' her lawyer Saleh Nikbakht said. 'Her punishment has been changed to a suspended two-year sentence.'

The ruling was greeted with joy and relief by Ms Saberi's father, who has been in the country since March to push for her release and said he will take his daughter back home to the United States 'as soon as possible'.

Iran's judiciary said the sentence would be suspended for five years, and a judicial source told AFP that the 32-year-old journalist would be free to leave the country.

'She's free to do what she wants as any other citizen who has a passport and can come and go as they want,' the source said.

Her father, who had arrived in Iran from the United States in March to seek her release, voiced delight at her release.

'We are very happy,' Reza Saberi told AFP. 'We are going to Evin prison to take her home.' He told Al-Jazeera television that he saw his daughter on Sunday and that 'she is feeling well,' but had lost weight. -- AFP