BREAKING: Roxana Saberi convicted of spying by Iran.

Head’s-up from @jaketapper, who notes that this all started when the woman purchased a bottle of wine.

Lawyer: Iran convicts US journalist of spying
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI – 8 minutes ago

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An American journalist jailed in Iran has been convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison, her lawyer said Saturday, dashing any hopes for her quick release.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested in late January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But an Iranian judge later leveled a far more serious allegation, charging her with spying for the United States.

She appeared before an Iranian court behind closed doors on Monday in an unusually swift one-day trial. The Fargo, North Dakota native had been living in Iran for six years and had worked as a freelance reporter for several news organizations including National Public Radio and the British Broadcasting Corp.

The Obama administration is currently attempting to get Ms. Saberi out of the clutches of the Iranian regime; which is good, because said regime has a problem with the way it treats its female journalist prisoners. As in, it’s worth your life to be one and in their clutches.

And yes, I should have been yelling about this more years ago.

Moe Lane

PS: If the Obama administration is prepared to make the quiet yet firm statement – as publicly or as privately as they like – that they’re prepared to go retrieve Ms. Saberi if that’s what it takes I think that I can see my way clear to not giving them too hard a time about it.

Crossposted to RedState.