Iran To Probe "Mock Trial" Of Reporter

Iran's official news agency said the country's judiciary chief has ordered a full investigation into the case of a U.S. journalist Roxana Saberi, who was convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Iran's judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi on Monday ordered a full investigation into Saberi's case during the appeals process. He said the probe should be "precise, quick and fair," according to the official news agency IRNA.

Ayatollah Shahroudi's order Monday comes a day after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saberi, a North Dakota native who worked for NPR and the BBC, should be allowed to offer a full defense during her appeal.

Iran has released very few facts about Saberi's case and initially said she was arrested in January for working without press credentials. The government later charged the 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen with spying for the United States and convicted her in a one-day trial behind closed doors.

The journalist's Iranian-born father, Reza Saberi, has said his daughter was not provided a proper defense during her trial. He called the proceedings "a mock trial" during an interview with CNN on Sunday from Iran, where he traveled with his wife to seek his daughter's release.

"Obviously I am gravely concerned with her safety and well being," President Barack Obama said Sunday during a press conference at the conclusion of the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad. "We are working to make sure she is properly treated and to get more information about the disposition of her case.

"She is an American citizen and I have complete confidence that she was not engaging in any espionage," Mr. Obama said. "She is an Iranian American who is interested in the country which her family came from; it is appropriate that she be treated as such."

He said he wanted to ensure a "proper disposition of this case."

Mr. Obama's comments sparked a pointed response from Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi.

"I advise those who studied law not to comment on a case without seeing its context," Qashqavi told reporters during his weekly press briefing Monday.

President Obama studied law at Harvard University and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago.

Qashqavi said the charges against Saberi included "gathering information and news in an illegal way," and remarked that Saberi was treated like any other Iranian citizen during her trial. (Iran's legal system does not recognize dual nationality.)

On CBS News' Face The Nation, White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod said the Obama administration was very concerned. "We think the charges were totally unwarranted and inappropriate," Axelrod told CBS News' Harry Smith. "And we will be communicating through the appropriate channels to do whatever we can to help secure her release."

As the U.S. does not currently have normal diplomatic relations with Iran, such conversations would be conducted through intermediaries, such as the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Monday he wants to travel to Iran with a delegation to personally appeal for Saberi's release.

"We need all those that have a voice to help us appeal to Iran to please let her go," Jackson said at a university forum during a visit to Malaysia.

"Leaders of wisdom must not allow this young woman to be a pawn in a bigger debate and lose focus on so many possibilities," Jackson added.

Behind-The-Scenes In Tehran

Saberi's imprisonment and conviction have complicated Mr. Obama's efforts to break a 30-year diplomatic deadlock between the two countries - particularly at a sensitive time when Tehran has been pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

The U.S. has called the charges against Saberi baseless and said Iran would gain U.S. goodwill if it "responded in a positive way" to the case.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made some effort to reduce tension from the case, but some analysts believe hard-line judicial officials opposed to improving U.S.-Iranian relations could be behind the dispute.

Ahmadinejad sent a letter to Tehran's chief prosecutor Sunday urging him to ensure Saberi be allowed to offer a full defense during her appeal, a sign he does not want the case to derail a move toward dialogue with the U.S.

The U.S. had severed diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Relations deteriorated further under former President George W. Bush, who labeled Iran as part of the so-called "Axis of Evil."

A few days before Saberi's sentence was announced, Ahmadinejad gave the clearest signal yet that Iran was ready for a new relationship with the U.S.

Today's decision by the judiciary chief to order an investigation is unusual, signaling a possible struggle between officials who want to defuse tension over Saberi's case and those looking to spark it.

However, many hard-liners in Iran are opposed to stronger ties with Washington.

The hard-line Iranian newspaper Jomhuri criticized Ahmadinejad's letter to the Tehran prosecutor in an editorial Monday, saying government intervention in the judiciary was banned by the constitution. It also said the letter implied the judiciary had not upheld Saberi's rights.

Some analysts have speculated Iran is using Saberi's case as a way to gain leverage over the U.S., possibly to procure the release of five Iranian diplomats detained in northern Iraq in 200.

Qashqavi, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, rejected the link between Saberi and the diplomats Monday, saying her case has been "linked to irrelevant issues."

Saberi was born in the U.S. and grew up in Fargo, N.D., where she was crowned Miss North Dakota in 1997. She had been living in Iran for six years and worked as a freelance reporter for news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.

Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Iran for arresting journalists and suppressing freedom of speech.

The government has arrested several Iranian-Americans in the past few years, citing alleged attempts to overthrow its Islamic government through what it calls a "soft revolution."

But they were never put on trial and were eventually released from prison.

Her father said Saberi had been working on a book about Iranian culture and hoped to finish it and return to the U.S. this year.