Roxana Saberi signs copies of her book at U of M
Between Two Worlds, Saberi's book
Saberi hugs Al Bauer, father of Shane Bauer
Roxana Saberi speaks at Humphrey Institute
MINNEAPOLIS -- Journalist Roxana Saberi gave a riveting account of her time locked in an Iran prison in 2009, during a speech at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
She endured more than three months in Evin Prison, where she was subjected to intimidation, interrogation and psychological pressure. It's a story sure to evoke feelings of outrage for those accustomed to civil rights and due process.
And yet Saberi's tale was somehow comforting to the family of a Shane Bauer, the Minnesota native being held in the same prison. They especially appreciated the photos and diagrams of the prison Saberi projected on the big screen.
"The pictures that she shared were very helpful for me, to see where Shane, Sarah and Josh are," Nicole Lindstrom, Bauer's sister, told KARE.
Bauer, a free-lance journalist based in Syria, has been jailed in Iran since last July, along with his girlfriend Sarah Shourd and friend Josh Fattal. Iranian authorities arrested the three after claiming they illegally crossed the border into Iran from Kurdistan.
"I think that it actually comforts me more than anything to hear how it is there," Lindstrom explained, "Because not knowing how it is, is harder than knowing."
Bauer's family approached Saberi in the lobby of the Humphrey Institute, as she was signing copies of her new book, "Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran."
Saberi sprung to her feet and hugged Lindstrom and Bauer's father Al, who lives in Shakopee.
"How are you holding up?" Saberi asked.
"You know how it is," Al Bauer answered, "It's day by day."
Saberi knows. She told the audience at the Humphrey Institute that, during her solitary confinement, she had nothing to write with and nothing to read except for a Quran written in Farsi, the dominant language of Persia.
"One minute felt like an hour, an hour felt like a day and a day felt like an eternity," she recalled, "I sang to myself, whatever songs I could remember. Christmas Carols like Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer, although I couldn't remember all the reindeers' names."
Saberi, a Fargo native and graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, was working in Iraq as a journalist and documentary producer in 2006 when President Mahammad Khatami was replaced by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Most western journalists, including Saberi, were stripped of their press passes as the hard liners took power. Saberi, who held passports from both the US and Iran, decided to stay and go to work on a book about Iranian society.
By then, she said, she had fallen in love with the people of the country where her father was born. And she wanted the outside world to get a better idea of the dynamics between reformers and conservatives.
Saberi was preparing to leave Iran in January of 2009 when plain clothes operatives forced their way into her Tehran apartment.
"They said cooperate and you'll be fine," Saberi remembered, "We're going to take you to some other buildings, ask you some questions. If you cooperate you're coming home tonight. But if not, you're going to Evin Prison."
Her prison interrogators pressed her repeated about why she had received so many calls and e-mails from journalists and others in the United States.
"They offered to make a deal. They said we'll free you if you confess to using your book for a cover for espionage for the US, and also that you work for us. In other words, they wanted me to spy for them."
Saberi eventually gave in and made a false confession, in hopes of gaining her freedom. She later recanted and was found guilty of being a spy in a closed trial that lasted only a half hour.
She was sentenced to eight years in prison, but after an appeal Iran's leaders agreed to release her for "humanitarian reasons."
Saberi said her joy of freedom was tempered by the sadness over those political prisoners that were left behind. She said she hopes her book will bring international attention to the plight of those imprisoned for their words and beliefs.
"What happened to me is happening to a lot of people in Iran, and many of them are suffering much worse than I ever did."
(Copyright 2010 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.)
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