U.S.-Iranian writer held in Evin jail

By Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's judiciary says an Iranian-American freelance journalist, whose father said she was detained more than a month ago, was being held in Tehran's Evin prison on the orders of a court that handles state security.

Judiciary spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said on Tuesday he did not know what Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old who was born in the United States and who has reported for the BBC, NPR and other media, was being accused of.

But he told a news conference that a revolutionary court, which under Iran's legal system deals with state security issues as well as other areas of the law, had decided on her detention. Saberi holds dual nationality.

The case comes after U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has made clear it is interested in engaging with Iran to address suspicions it is seeking a nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear programme is a peaceful drive for electricity.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday said Saberi had been working illegally in Iran after her press card was withdrawn about two years ago.

"Upon the ruling issued by the revolutionary court she is now in detention at Evin prison," Jamshidi said. "I don't know anything about the charges against her."

Evin prison is a jail where rights groups say political prisoners are usually taken. Shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution many people viewed as being close to the deposed U.S.-backed shah and others were executed there.

In Washington, the U.S. State Department said on Monday it had asked Switzerland, which represents U.S. interests in Tehran, to seek information about Saberi from the Iranian authorities but had not yet received any response.