Roxana Saberi Briefly Hospitalized Over Hunger Strike

Iran continues incarcerating American journalist Roxana Saberi on trumped up charges after holding a sham trial. Saberi protested her treatment by engaging in a hunger strike. The Iranians then said she did no such thing, so she stopped taking all liquids, sending her to a medical clinic briefly according to her father.

The press freedom group said 32-year-old Roxana Saberi, accused by Iran of spying for the U.S., was taken Friday to a clinic at Tehran's Evin prison, where she has been held since her arrest in January. She was released from the clinic within a day after again drinking water, the group said.

Saberi's Iranian-born father, who traveled to Iran to seek his daughter's release, said last month that she was drinking only sweetened water while refusing food to protest her eight-year jail sentence.

Reporters Without Borders said her father, Reza Saberi, told the group over the weekend that she stopped drinking water after Iranian authorities denied she was on a hunger strike.

''So following that, she decided to do a complete hunger strike,'' Soazig Dollet of the Paris-based group told The Associated Press. ''So she was really weak and went to the clinic inside the prison for the day, but not more than a day.''

Saberi's father did not answer phone calls seeking comment on Monday.

The Obama administration has called the espionage allegations against Saberi baseless and demanded her immediate release. Iranian authorities have promised a fair review of her appeal.

Saberi, a dual Iranian-American citizen, has lived in Iran for the last six years. She was born in the U.S. and grew up in Fargo, North Dakota.

She was initially accused of working without press credentials, but authorities later made the more serious charge that she passed intelligence to the U.S. She was convicted on the espionage charge after a one-day trial behind closed doors.

There were also claims that she had initially purchased alcohol, which is illegal under Islamic law. In any event, the Iranians are testing the Obama Administration, and thus far the Administration has taken the tact of calling for her immediate release all while continuing to pursue other diplomatic entreaties to open up new lines of communications.