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TEHERAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Iran's judiciary to ensure that an Iranian-American journalist jailed for espionage enjoys her legal right to defend herself, the official IRNA news agency said yesterday.

The letter from Ahmadinejad's office to Teheran's prosecutor was published a day after Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in jail for spying for the United States.

Saberi's lawyer has said he would appeal the sentence, which comes at a time when the new US administration of President Barack Obama is trying to engage the Islamic Republic diplomatically following three decades of mutual mistrust.