After 410 brutal days in Tehran’s Evin Prison, Sarah Shourd is back in the United States. Today, she spoke to the US media for the first time, in a small conference room at New York’s Parker Meridien Hotel.

She began her remarks by expressing her sincere thanks to the government and religious leaders of Iran. She gave no details about how she was treated in jail, and she said prison left her spirit bruised- but not broken. She added that her fiance and friend who are still in Iranian custody should be released immediately, because the only thing they did wrong was accidentally cross an unmarked border. “Shane [Bauer] and Josh [Fattal] do not deserve to be in prison one day longer than I was. We committed no crime, and we are not spies,” Shourd said, referring to Iranian charges of espionage.

She detailed the day she was arrested, saying the group of three was sightseeing at a popular Iraqi waterfall when they accidentally crossed into Iran, over what she described as an “indistinguishable,” border.

Shourd was released on September 14 for humanitarian reasons, amid concerns about her health–and $500,000 bail. But, she says a doctor in Oman has assured her she is physically well. Speaking with regard to her good health, she said in Arabic “al-Hamdilullah,” which means “Praise be to God.”

Sarah was well-spoken, and never lost her composure- even when mentioning her loved ones who remain behind bars. “I stand before you today only one-third free,” she said. “That was the last thing Josh said to me before I walked through the prison doors. Josh and Shane felt one-third free at that moment, and so did I.

Shourd was forced to fly from Dubai to Washington, D.C. today, and then drive to New York for her press conference. She couldn’t get a direct flight into the Big Apple because everything was booked, by people travelling to Manhattan’s East Side for this week’s United Nations General Assembly. Among those in town for the UNGA is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who said this morning on ABC’s “This Week” that he wants his good deed- releasing Sarah- to be rewarded. Through a translator, he articulated, “it would not be misplaced to ask that the U.S. government should take a humanitarian gesture to release the Iranians who were illegally arrested and detained here in the United States.”

The mothers of the two hikers who remain jailed in Tehran said today they have requested to meet with the Iranian President this week in New York. They haven’t heard back yet.

As Sarah was leaving the podium, I asked her if she had a message for her fiance, Shane Bauer. With her hand over her heart, she said she did not. She then embraced her mother, Nora, and left the room holding her hand.