The case has perplexed friends and colleagues in Tehran. No charges have been filed, though officials have described her reporting as illegal. On Friday, an Iranian prosecutor said she would be freed within days. But the detention of the ambitious 31-year-old has stunned and unsettled the journalists who knew Saberi in Tehran. They describe her as a cautious and serious journalist who tried to forge a normal life in the Islamic Republic.”She is serious as a reporter,” said one journalist who knows Saberi but like many interviewed for this report asked not to be named. “Recently, we heard her reporting, which was said to be only straight news, was somehow tolerated by authorities, which is what made the news of her arrest come as a shock.”
