MOORHEAD, MINNESOTA (ANS) -- The president of imprisoned US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi's Midwestern alma mater is calling her release from Tehran's Evin prison, "a day to celebrate."

Concordia College President Pamela Jolicoeur said: "This is truly a day to celebrate. All of us in the Concordia community are thrilled and grateful that Roxana’s ordeal is over and that it has been resolved in a just and peaceful manner.

"Undoubtedly this terrible experience has taken a great toll on Roxana and her family. We will continue to support them in any way we can. For now, we are so thankful she is free and eagerly anticipate the chance to welcome her home.

"We eagerly anticipate the chance to welcome her home and host a grand celebration in her honor!"

Roxana Saberi reporting from Capitol Hill

Saberi, who turned 32 during her three months in prison, graduated from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1997, where she majored in communication and French.

An appeals court in Iran yesterday reduced her jail term to a two-year suspended sentence, said she could leave the country, and was told not to report from Iran for five years.

Saberi has reported from Iran for NPR and the BBC and was working on a book about Iranian culture when she was arrested for buying alcohol, which is forbidden in Iran. She was convicted last month in a one-day closed trial of alleged spying for the U.S. and sentenced to eight years in prison.

After the appeals court ruling Monday her lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, said the Iranian-American journalist is "now out of jail."

Earlier Monday, Saberi's father said he would make plans to return home with his daughter in the next few days. Saberi's parents live in Fargo, North Dakota, and had traveled to Iran to seek her release.

After learning of Saberi's release, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who has been in close contact with the U.S. Department of State in recent weeks in regard to Saberi's situation, said: "I am glad this injustice has been reversed and Roxana Saberi is now free to return home."

She added: "Her arrest and imprisonment provoked a worldwide response. The government of Iran should never have used this young American journalist as a pawn in their international game."

** Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel,and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael's volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department -- Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) -- of A.C.T. International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of 'Truth Through Christian Journalism.'