Just days before the news that an eight-year prison sentence had been handed down to Iranian-US journalist Roxana Saberi hit the headlines around the world, President Ahmadinejad and his close ally Esfandiyar Rahim Mashaee hosted a banquet in Tehran for 800 Iranians resident outside Iran.Iranians residents from countries – including the United Kingdom, the United States, and France – attended the event at the Muslim World Leaders Conference building in Velenjak, a rich Tehran neighbourhood.
