April 21, 2009 --
The Reverend Jesse Jackson is offering help to an American journalist convicted of spying.Roxana Saberi is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She was sentenced to eight years in an Iranian prison. Saberi had been working as a freelance reporter for six years in Iran for several news outlets.
Reverend Jackson is at a peace conference in Malaysia and says he and other religious leaders are trying to get to Iran to help her.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for Saberi's release. And Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadenijad says the reporter deserves a full defense on appeal.