WALL STREET JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT IS DETAINED BY IRANIAN AUTHORITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705990010-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: February 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

C
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000705990010-4
ARTICLE aPPE~RED WALL STREET JUU"AL
2 February 1987
ONP
Wall Street Journal Correspondent
Is Detained' by Iranian Authorities
B4 a WA1.t. STHr.F.T JILL UNAI. Staff Reporter
WASHINGTON - Iranian authorities
have detained an American reporter, Ger-
ald F. Seib of The Wall Street Journal.
"Jerry Seib is a highly respected for-
eign cor podent, and there can be no
basis for his detention," said Norman
Pearlstine, the Journal's managing editor.
We are seeking explanations through
Iranian and other diplomatic channels. We
hope any confusion will be cleared up and
we are requesting his immediate release
from detention and from Iran."
Mr. Seib was one of 57 foreign corre-
spondents who last week were invited by
the Iranian government to tour the front
lines of Iran's war with Iraq. Along with a
Swiss diplomat, he was ordered into a van
in front of his hotel in Tehran about 6 p.m.
Satm-day.
Iran's official Islamic Re ublic News
A c or IRNA. reported Saturday eve-
ni that "a spy of the Zionist re me" had
entered Iran with a false passport, dis-
guised as a journalist. But the ree ara
graph report, monitored in rus i not
give a name or nationality of the alleged
Spy-
Mr. Pearlstine said: "We are aware of
an Iranian news-agency report on Satur-
day claiming that an Israeli spy has been
arrested in Tehran. We want to emphasize
that this report cited no name or national-
ity. Moreover, the report says the person
arrested entered Iran with a false passport
and posing as a journalist. Jerry Seib en-
tered Iran legally on a valid U.S. passport
and is obviously a well-known and well-re-
spected journalist. We see no reason to link
Mr. Seib's detention with the Iranian news-
agency report."
In Washington, State Department
spokesman Bruce Ammerman said:
"We're aware of the report, we are looking
into it, and we're in touch with the Swiss."
In a statement, the State Department said:
"From official diplomatic sources we do
not know why Mr. Seib has been de-
tained." The statement added: "The de-
partment urges that Mr. Seib be released
immediately and allowed to depart from
Iran forthwith."
Mr. Seib, 30 years old, is a native of
Kansas and a graduate of Thomas More
Prep High School, a Roman Catholic pre-
paratory school, and of the University of
Kansas. He joined the Journal upon gradu-
ation in 1978 and worked in the paper's
Dallas and Washington bureaus. He and
his wife, Barbara Rosewicz, also a Journal
reporter, were assigned to cover the Mid-
dle East from a base in Cairo in January
1985.
Mr. Seib and the other reporters invited
to Iran were issued five-day visas, which
most of them overstayed because their
tours of the warfront were delayed. Mr.
Seib's visa was issued in Frankfurt at the
request of the Iranian interest section at-
tached to the Algerian Embassy in Wash-
ington.
When Mr. Seib and several other jour-
nalists applied for an extension on Thurs-
day so they could depart on the weekend,
only Mr. Seib had difficulty getting one.
Iranian officials confiscated his passport.
In his hotel room, Mr. Seib received a
series of telephone calls from a man who
identified himself as "Jallali," who told
him there was a minor problem with his
visa that could not be settled until after the
Moslem sabbath, which falls on Friday.
Mr. Seib told his editors in New York
that "Jallali" told him his name resembled
that of someone being sought by Iranian
authorities, and told him the confusion
would be resolved when he reported to the
Iranian Immigration Department Satur-
day. Mr. Seib said the Iranian Foreign
Ministry offered the same explanation for
the confusion.
But when Mr. Seib reported to the im-
migration office Saturday morning, offi-
cials didn't produce his passport or an ex-
planation for the problem.
Mr. Seib spent several hours that day at
the home of a Swiss diplomat. Switzerland
represents U.S. interests in Iran, with
which the U.S. has no diplomatic relations.
He returned to his hotel late Saturday af-
ternoon with another Swiss diplomat. As he
left the hotel with the diplomat, both were
detained. The Swiss diplomat was released
shortly.
Three other American journalists in
Tehran at the time were allowed to leave
early Sunday.
Two other Americans currently are be-
ing held in Iran. John Pattis, a 50-year-old
engineer who works for a company in
Bethesda, Md., was seized last summer
and Tehran newspapers have claimed he
has confessed to spying for the Central In-
telligence Agency. The State Department
disclosed last month that a second Ameri-
can had been imprisoned in Iran. But at
his family's request, the department has
refused to divulge his identity or to provide
details of his arrest.
V/
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000705990010-4