Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday called on the judiciary to respect a jailed US-Iranian reporter's rights, the official IRNA news agency reported.

In a letter issued by Ahmadinejad's office to Tehran's prosecutor, Ahmadinejad asked the judiciary to preserve justice in considering the accusations directed against the US-Iranian journalist, Roxana Saberi.

"Referring to the president's insistence, make sure that all the legal processes to consider the accusations are carried out carefully and on the basis of justice," the letter said.

Addressing Tehran prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi, the letter asked him to "personally make sure that the accused will enjoy all freedom and legal rights to defend (herself) against the charges and no small rights (of her) will be violated."

Iran's revolutionary court sentenced the US-Iranian journalist to eight years in jail on charges of espionage, her lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshahi said on Saturday.

"According to Iran's law, an appeal can be made against the verdict within 20 days and I will act on this in due course," Khorramshahi was quoted by IRNA.

Saberi, 31-year-old, was arrested in the second half of January 2009 on charges of espionage for the United States.

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2009)