ELCA NEWS SERVICE April 22, 2009 Lutheran College Commencement Speaker to Honor Alumna Imprisoned in Iran 09-94-SH CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The announcement was one a Minnesota Lutheran college hoped never to make. Its May 3 commencement speaker is being replaced due to her spying conviction and eight-year prison sentence by an Iranian revolutionary court. In a show of support for alumna Roxana Saberi, an American-born journalist, leaders of Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., tapped her mentor to speak. Veteran journalist Margo Melnicove will pay tribute to Saberi in an address titled "Lessons Learned from a Concordia College Grad." "We are still hopeful that Roxana will be able to come home very soon," said Dr. Pamela Jolicoeur, the school's president. "We would be thrilled to welcome her back to campus as our special guest." Saberi, 31, a former Miss North Dakota, grew up in Fargo with her Iranian father and Japanese mother. She's a 1997 graduate of Concordia, one of 28 universities and colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). She moved to Iran six years ago, working as a freelance journalist for National Public Radio (NPR), the BBC and others. Melnicove, who teaches at Boston's Brandeis University, mentored Saberi through NPR's Diversity Initiative. Iranian authorities arrested Saberi in January, saying her press credentials had been revoked three years ago. Even after the arrest, Concordia College held out hope that she'd be released by commencement. She'd been booked as a speaker months earlier. "The news of Roxana's conviction is devastating," Jolicouer said after the April 18 ruling by an Iranian revolutionary court. The case is under appeal. In an interview with NPR, Saberi's father said Iranian officials coerced his daughter into making false statements in exchange for her freedom. But after realizing she'd been "tricked," she repeatedly told officials the statements were false, her father said. U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton maintain Saberi's innocence. The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, called for her release in an April 9 letter to Iran's ambassador to the United Nations. They join a long list of politicians, journalists, religious leaders and others urging her release. "Roxana is a remarkable young woman who has quickly distinguished herself as the type of globally engaged citizen we desire all of our graduates to be," Concordia's Jolicouer said. "We think having her mentor speak is a fitting way to honor the class of 2009." - - - Information about Concordia College is at http://www.cord.edu/ on the Internet. For information contact: John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog