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Iran

Iran to hear US reporter appeal - 5 May
An appeal will begin next week for US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, who was sentenced to eight years in jail for spying, an Iranian official has said. Ms Saberi's father says she has been on a hunger strike since she was sentenced behind closed doors last month by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. - BBC News website
Keyphrase :
Freedom of the Press

Iran court hears reporter appeal - 10 May
A court in Iran has heard an appeal from jailed US-Iranian reporter Roxana Saberi, two days earlier than expected. Ms Saberi's lawyer said it was not clear when a ruling would be announced, but said he was optimistic of a change to the 32-year-old's sentence. - BBC News website

Iran frees jailed US-born journalist - 11 May
US-born journalist Roxana Saberi walked free Monday after an Iranian appeals court cut her eight-year jail sentence for spying to a suspended two-year term. - Reuters website

Saberi 'had classified document' - 13 May
A lawyer for US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi says she was convicted of spying for the US partly because she had obtained a classified document. Her lawyer said she had access to a confidential Iranian report on the US war in Iraq - but had not used it. The lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said the report had been prepared by a research centre of the Iranian presidency. - BBC News website

United Arab Emirates

UAE fines mother over baby death - 4 May
A court in Dubai has found a woman who lost her unborn child in a traffic accident guilty of manslaughter in what is said to be an unprecedented ruling. The Lebanese woman, who was nine months pregnant at the time, was also ordered to pay blood money. She said she had not caused the accident. The judge based the ruling on Islamic law. The court said the rights of unborn babies needed to be protected. Prosecutors had argued that the verdict should act as a deterrent. The court found that she had failed to keep a safe distance from the car ahead of her. The National reports the woman's vehicle was hit by the car following hers when she braked suddenly. Dubai's traffic court ordered the bereaved mother to pay US$5,450 in blood money. - BBC News website

InfoUpdate : an Information Service supplied by the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society