Roxana Saberi moved to Iran in 2003 to work as the Iran correspondent for the U.S.-based Feature Story News. She filed reports for organizations like NPR, BBC, ABC Radio and Fox News and was working on a book about Iranian society when she was arrested in January 2009.

After being released 100 days later, she now writes and speaks out about prisoners of conscience in Iran. Her book Between Two Worlds tells of her arrest and captivity in Iran.

Iran is located in the Middle East, bordering the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf, and the Caspian Sea, between Iraq and Pakistan.

Broadcasting in Iran is run by authorities and reflects the views of the Supreme Leader Ayatolla Ali Khamenei and his allies in the conservative clerical establishment. With the internet, authorities in Iran have taken on the same measures as China by blocking sites with political content.

According to a 2010 prison consensus from the Committee to Protect Journalists, 145 journalists have been jailed worldwide. Of these journalists, 34 are Iranian journalist jailed in their own country; a tie with China who also has reported 34 jailed journalists. Most of these journalists are accused of "propagating against the regime."

Since her release, Saberi has joined others in bringing attention to the situation of human rights in Iran. She has received the Medill Medal of Courage, the Ilaria Alpi Freedom of the Press Award, and the NCAA Award of Valor. She was named one of Jaycees’ 2011 Ten Outstanding Young Americans and was honored by the Japanese American Citizens League as an “Outstanding Woman.”

In addition to her own book, Saberi was also a co-writer of No One Knows About Persian Cats, a film-documentary about underground music in Iran.