John Poole/NPR

NPR posted the first long interview with Roxana Saberi today since her return home from Iran. It sounds like the “buying alcohol” and espionage charges were all untrue. She made a false confession to being  a U.S. spy and talks about then recanting and why she recanted:

“so I made a false confession and I said, “Yes, I’m a U.S. spy.” But because my conscience got the better of me and the God that I believe in — the God that I thought had abandoned me when I was first in prison — I realized [he] was always with me. And I realized that he was not pleased with what I had done by making this false confession. I recanted my confession, knowing full well that I would jeopardize my freedom.”

It’s fascinating because by recanting she knew the prosecutor would be mad and sure enough they were and she went to the one hour trial that initially ended with an eight year prison sentence:

“And indeed, that’s what happened: The prosecutor got upset with me for recanting my confession and sent my case to trial instead of freeing me, and that’s when I was sentenced to eight years in prison. I knew this was going to happen when I recanted my confession, but I told myself, I would rather tell the truth and stay in prison instead of telling lies to be free. And I didn’t want to set an example for people to come after me, that they have to give confessions in order to be free. Because even if you become free after telling lies, I felt, my conscience would always remain behind bars.”

“Because even if you become free after telling lies, I felt, my conscience would always remain behind bars.” Impressive woman.