Spanish woman freed from Iran jail says positive thoughts kept her going

Spanish backpacker Ana Baneira, 24, smiles as she speaks for the first time to the media after being released after she was imprisoned in Iran since November, during nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of a young woman in September, in A Coruna, in northern Spain, March 2, 2023. M. Dylan/Pool via REUTERS

MADRID (Reuters) - A 25-year-old Spanish woman who was jailed for over four months in Iran on spying charges and has now returned home after her release last week, said she kept forcing herself throughout her ordeal to think she would go free as she had done nothing wrong.

Ana Baneira, her hair short after prison, told Europa Press news agency on Thursday that not knowing the charges against her for many days while being unable to communicate with other prisoners who spoke no English was probably the hardest part.