Under international criminal law, defendants have the right to access diplomatic officers of their own state. But American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, detained for nearly two months, haven’t been allowed contact with Western officials since March 30. A South Korean man known only by his surname, Yu, also has been kept from any contact with officials from his country, according to the South’s Unification Ministry.

The Journal contextualizes the Lee/Ling detention within a pattern of recent belligerence from the North after the illness of dictator Kim Jong-Il. Here’s a statement from Reporters Without Borders demanding Lee and Ling’s release.

An Iranian appeals court has reduced the eight-year jail sentence for Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi to a suspended two-year term and she will soon be freed, her defense lawyer told Reuters on Monday.

Reuters further reported that Saberi’s parents will pick her up from Evin prison. The appeals court evidently realized that imprisoning Saberi made Iran an international embarrassment.

Update: Italy’s Agenzia Giornalistica Italia reports that Saberi has been released, and The Associated Press confirms.