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By Manos Tzafalias
Athanasiadis was then asked [by this writer] about a previous run in he had with
authorities while reporting from Qom, a renowned centre of Shi’i Islam
scholarship. Iranian clerics in that city have been vocal in their criticism
of the Ahmadinejad regime in the aftermath of the contested 12 June presidential
election.
“Oh yes, so with the Qom arrest that DOES make for three arrests...
thanks for the reminder,” wrote Athanasiadis.
He said that in general he had been treated well but that there had
been instances of violence during his arrest on 17 June and the
consequent interrogation in Evin prison. Athanasiadis said his
interrogators changed their attitude when they realized that he was a
foreigner.
News of his arrest became public on 23 June, after Iran’s Fars news
agency reported that Iason Athanasiadis was arrested in Tehran on
charges of "illegal activities”.
Iason Athanasiadis was covering the elections for the Washington Times
newspaper, the Guardian, the GlobalPost news site and the Pulitzer
Center for Crisis Reporting.
In the past he has worked for the Daily Telegraph, the FT, the
National (Abu Dhabi), the Christian Science Monitor, Al Jazeera and
the BBC [mostly for the now defunct Greek language service].
Many other friends and acquaintances, who cannot be named here, have
helped to make our lives more bearable at this difficult time. We are
grateful to them all.
Polymnia Athanasiadi
Garth Fowden
-ENDS-