An Iranian court has reportedly sentenced detained US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi to eight years in prison on espionage charges.

“I received the verdict on my client's conviction on Saturday and she has been sentenced to eight years in prison,” IRNA quoted Saberi's lawyer Abdolsamad Khorramshai as saying.

The 31-year-old, who reported for the BBC, NPR, and Fox News during her six-year stay in Iran, was arrested in January for working "illegally" as a journalist after her press card was revoked in 2006.

Saberi is now held in custody in Iran's Evin house of detention.

Iranian authorities have not yet commented on whether Saberi has been sentenced.

SF/HGH