TEHRAN, Iran -- An American journalist jailed in Iran was freed today and can leave the country immediately, her lawyers said after an appeals court suspended her eight-year prison sentence.

Roxana Saberi, a 32-year-old dual American-Iranian national, was convicted last month of spying for the U.S. and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Iran's judiciary announced that the appeals court, which heard her case on Sunday, had reduced her jail term to a suspended two-year sentence, said one of her lawyers, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi. He told The Associated Press that Saberi will be "released today."

Her other lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said she is "entitled to leave Iran immediately."

U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan said her release would be "wonderful" but also stressed that her jailing was a "miscarriage of justice" that "could not stand the test of public opinion."

Back in her hometown of Fargo, her parents' neighbors said they were overjoyed about the news