VIENNA (Reuters) - U.S.-born journalist Roxana Saberi arrived in Austria on Friday from Iran, four days after authorities there freed her from a Tehran prison and quashed her eight-year sentence for spying.
"We can confirm that she has arrived in Vienna," said a U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Vienna. Another U.S. official said Saberi was expected to stay in the Austrian capital for a couple of days. U.S. officials declined further comment.
Earlier, her Iranian lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, told Reuters the 32-year-old freelance reporter had left Tehran on an overnight flight for Europe and would continue to the United States.
U.S.-based National Public Radio said Saberi was travelling with her parents. She has both U.S. and Iranian citizenship and has worked for NPR and the BBC.
She was arrested in January for working in Iran after her press credentials had expired. She was later accused of spying, found guilty and jailed for eight years. She was freed from prison on Monday after having her sentence cut, on appeal, to a suspended two-year term.
"She was well but upset that she could not return to Iran soon to do reporting," Khorramshahi added.
Saberi's other defence lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said on Tuesday the change in the verdict was due to a different interpretation of the relevant law, not because of political considerations.
But her release on Monday removed a possible hindrance to
President Barack Obama's attempts to thaw U.S. relations with the Islamic Republic after three decades of enmity.
Obama welcomed Saberi's release as a "humanitarian gesture."
The two countries are in dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at making atomic bombs. Iran says it is to generate electricity.
The United States had said the charges were baseless and had demanded Saberi's immediate release. Tehran does not recognise dual nationality and told Washington not to interfere.
Obama has offered Iran a fresh start in relations, though Iran says Washington must first show real policy change.
Analysts and diplomats have said Saberi's arrest should not be seen as a sign that Iran is rejecting Obama's overture, but say her case and her release may have been influenced by it.
Some saw the arrest as a warning to foreign media ahead of Iran's June presidential election, while others say it could have been a bid by hardliners to obstruct any thaw in U.S.-Iran ties or to use her as a "bargaining chip."
(Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran and Mark Heinrich in Vienna; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)