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“speAking Out fOR tHOse WHO CAnnOt Be HeARd”
Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi visits her alma mater’s campus in Qatar to speak about her book, Between Two Worlds: My Lifeand Captivity in Iran. Qatar Today caught up with her...
by Myriam Chandana
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Roxana Saberi, Iranian-American journalist
ou have been speaking to a variety of audiences internationally. What motivates your visits? What do you want to achieve at this moment in time?
A few things. I hope to increase awareness of human rights violations in Iran, which I experienced during my imprisonment. I also met other women who were experiencing injustices and I realised how important it is for people outside prison to speak out for those who are struggling to make their own voices heard. Not just for political prisoners or prisoners of conscience who are being punished for peacefully standing up for basic rights, but also others who are facing injustices, it empower them when they know that they are not alone. I also try to tell the story of my own personal journey when I was imprisoned. I fell to one of my lowest points, 54
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tAg this and then I tried to pull myself up again through a renewed sense of faith; And also the inspiration that I got from many of my fellow prisoners who were standing up for their principles, no matter what the cost.
How has this ordeal changed you as a person?
In one way, it has made me reflect a lot more on human rights. Earlier, I sometimes reported on issues of human rights or wrote about them, but never really thought about it, until I was deprived off my own rights. And then, I realised how valuable universal human rights like freedom of speech through expression, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair and public trial are. I wasn’t allowed to have an attorney for several weeks. I wasn’t allowed to tell my family where I was. And I was threatened with many years in prison and even the death penalty. I realised that these are rights that people would want, no matter where they were in the world, regardless of what their background, nationality, religion, political affiliation, or ideology. When I was freed, I appreciated my freedom more than before and felt a responsibility to join others in speaking out for those who cannot make their own voices heard.
Born in Belleville, New Jersey, and raised in Fargo, North Dakota, Saberi holds bachelorÕ s degrees in communications and French from Concordia College in Minnesota, as well as masterÕ s degrees in broadcast journalism from Northwestern University and in international relations from the University of Cambridge. She has reported for ABC Radio, the BBC, Feature Story News, Fox News, NPR, and PRI. Saberi moved to Iran in 2003, and currently lives in North Dakota. Saberi was arrested in January 2009 while working on a book about the people and issues in Iran. She was convicted in a halfhour trial, which resulted in an 8-year prison sentence. Before being freed on appeal, Saberi was held in solitary confinement for five months, during which time her ordeal attracted international attention, including a protest from the Doha Centre for Media Freedom.
their religious beliefs, in my opinion. The sentence was reduced to 10 years, but 10 years is still a long time! I ask people I speak to do their part by signing petitions or writing letters to Iranian officials at the United Nations or to their own lawmakers, because a mass effort over a period of time will be very effective.
truth. What is your message to wrongly accused human rights activists, journalists and creative artists who do not have the kind of backing you did? Not just in Iran but in other countries?
I am very fortunate that I had international attention on my case and a large part of it because I was American, my mother is Japanese, and I worked for international news organisations like Fox News and BBC. That is why when I was freed I felt very glad for my freedom, but I felt a lot of sorrow for those prisoners I was leaving behind who did not have the kind of international attention but deserved freedom all the same. It is always a personal decision; at what price are you willing to stand up for these. I don’t look down on those who make false confessions under pressure. Some people are actually physically tortured. I was not so it is hard to compare. Some are not able to leave the country after they are free, so if they recant their false confessions there can be serious repercussions for them and their entire families. So, it is really a personal decision. Incidentally, a lot of the women I met, were more willing to stay in prison than live on telling lies.
A prevalent theme throughout your book was conspiracy theories, the Iranian Intelligence’s What kind of actions are you belief that the US is fabricatcurrently taking to support ing schemes, sending highly human rights organisations or qualified intellectuals to work other people like you who are in Iran to spy on the regime, fighting against human rights as in your case. Do you think violations in Iran? Wherever human rights violations take What do you believe resulted the leadership in Iran truly believes this? Is there any proof place, they should be addressed – wheth- in your release? er that’s in the West or the East. And I The international attention in my case to justify this belief? am just one of the many who are doing this. In my talks, I address these issues and bring attention to violations in Iran. I try to speak about it as much as I can in the media, by doing interviews and writing op-eds. In my book, I tell the story of student activists, followers of a civil disobedience movement, and two of my cellmates who were two of the seven detained leaders of Iran’s minority Baha’i faith, who were sentenced to 20 years in prison last month. They are being persecuted for
played a huge role in pressuring the Iranian authorities to release me when they did. Social media played a huge role – the news of my capture, and then my subsequent hunger strike went viral through a lot of online support groups.
You have upheld throughout your book that the truth is important to you. But you were initially sentenced to eight years in prison for telling the
Every state in the world faces national security threats. But I think hardliners in Iran often knowingly target innocent people because they want to intimidate certain groups in society and believe these people represent those groups. By doing this, they can scare other likeminded people like journalists, bloggers, opposition figures, or even scholars. It is possible that with the spread of ideas about democracy and human rights, that these hardliners who do not want democratic rights will october 10
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book reVieW: BeTween Two worlds: My life and CapTiviTy in iran
Ò When a bird realises that it is other than the cage, it is already free.Ó With these liberating words of 17 century Persian poet Saeb Tabrizi Ð Roxana Saberi begins her memoir, Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran. Followed by a brief note on the con-
tent of her book and her style of writing, Saberi, an IranianAmerican journalist who was imprisoned in Iran last year on charges of espionage, delves into a distressing account of her time in TehranÕ s notorious Evin Prison. Before reading Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran, few would have received an insight into what happens within the walls of a looming edifice located right at the foot of the scenic Alborz Mountains. In her book, Saberi chronicles the 100 days she spent in Section 209 of Evin – a wing known for housing political prisoners since the 1979 Islamic Revolution Ð punctuating it with Iranian political history and culture, current events, and personal stories from the six years she spent in the country. As she narrates her own ordeal, Saberi raises key issues which have placed Iran in the international spotlight in the recent past. Mainly, she
vate might be considered illegal in public. For example watching satellite television or dancing in a between men and women in a mixed gender private party. A lot of people learn to lie in public. Parents tell their children if someone comes
be threatened. But the methods that they are using, by locking people up and using force and brutality, they are creating resentment in society which itself is a threat to them in the long run. They also like to make examples of people just to justify their argument that Iran is under threat by foreign powers and people outside the country who are conspiring with foreign powers to spy or overthrow the government. In the name of national security, maintain a tight grip on society.
Ò When I was freed, I appreciated my freedom more than before and felt a responsibility to join others in speaking out for those who cannot make their own voices heard.Ó
In a documentary on Iran, Christiane Amanpour said that Iran currently is a “schizophrenic society.” Do you agree?
of these clashes between conservative and liberal, but also because they often act differently in public than they do in private. Often times, what they do in pri-
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There are a lot of conflicts in society, and I think Iran is caught between modernity and tradition, and the East and West, and nationalism and internationalism. On an individual level, a lot of people have dual or multiple identities because
points out the importance of what she believes are universal human rights and tenets of media freedom. She also makes an effort to relate the agendas of Iranian Ò hardlinersÓ and their impacts on lives of journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists in Iran, who eventually end up becoming political prisoners. The main aspect working in favour of SaberiÕ s account is her journalistic tone and objective reporting of facts. Several paragraphs throughout her book, especially those describing common perceptions, echo the pitch of a news report on US-Iran relations. Through vivid characters like Javan Ð the interrogator and Haj Khanom Ð one of the prison wardens, and strong dialogue construction, Saberi conveys her interaction with her captors. Concise and unexaggerated, Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran, is SaberiÕ s informative account of controversial issues surrounding the Iranian intelligence, government, and judicial system, coupled with a gripping narration of her own position amidst the three entities. Without doubt, a captivating read.
to your door and asks if you have satellite television, you say no, even if you do. And people eventually develop multiple identities n
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