IRAN HOLDS AMERICAN JOURNALIST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000705990013-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: February 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000705990013-1
"VM"S'" WWAShINGTON POST
2 February 1987
Iran Holds
American
Journalist
No Charges Made;
Writer Was Invited
To Cover Gulf War
By Loren Jenkins
Washington Post Foreign mee
TEHRAN, Feb. 1-The Iranian
government, which last week in-
vited nearly 100 foreign journalists
to cover its latest offensive against
Iraq, has detained the Middle East
correspondent for the Wall Street
J Journal, Gerald F. Seib.
Iranian o icia s rom the govern-
ment's Ministry of Guidance, which
had accredited Seib, an American,
refused to comment on why he was
detained yesterday, two days after
his passport was taken by govern-
ment officials without explanation.
An Islamic Republic News Agen-
cy report late yesterday alleged
that a spy for the "Zionist regime"
of Israel had been detained in Iran
after entering the country posing as
a journalist and using a false pass-
port. The three-paragraph report,
monitored in Cyprus, did not name
the alleged spy nor give his nation-
ality. It was not clear if the report
referred to Seib.
It is not known where Seib is be-
ing held. His U.S. colleagues, in-
cluding this reporter, whose visas
expired at midnight yesterday, left
Tehran this morning after unsuc-
cessful efforts to contact him again.
[In New York, Norman Pearl-
stine, managing editor of the Jour-
nal, said, "Jerry Seib is a highly re-
spected foreign correspondent and
there can be no basis for his deten-
tion. We are seeking explanations
through Iranian and other diplomat-
ic channels. We hope any confusion
will be cleared up and we are re-
questing his immediate release
from detention and from Iran."]
A State Department protest to-
day over the incident tiadetdiaed the
fact that Seib had entered Iran at
the invitation of the Iranian govern-
.-inent and that he carried a valid
U.S. passport.
There was no indication in Tehran
4phy the 30-year-old, Cairo-based
correspondent had been singled out
for detention. He was one of a group
'of close to 100 journalists invited to
Iran in the past two weeks to cover
'the lastest offensive against the
southern Iraqi port of Basra.
Seib went on a ministry tour to
the front last week, then returned
jo Tehran to cover a press confer-
ence Wednesday by the speaker of
the Iranian parliament, Hojatoles-
am Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
Seib's problems began when he
nd other American and British
arnalsts sought to have their five- .
day visas extended to make suitable
line departure plans.
Hassan Fekri, an official at the
";try's press office, said there
uld be "no problem" getting short
wale. He issued the journalists
ers that were to be taken, with
eir passports, to an office of the
ranian Immigration Department.
On Thursday, six journalists who
lad applied for visa extensions were
&ranted them and their passports
ere returned. Seib's was not be-
use, he was told, there was an
FThat pecified "problem."
night Seib received the first
f several telephone calls from a man
ho identified himself as "Mr. Jalala"
,of the Immigration Department. He
repeated that there was a problem
nd promised to visit him at his ho-
el-the same hotel, formerly a Hil-
on, where former national security
dviser Robert C. McFarlane stayed
or four nights last May during his
cret t visit to negotiate an arms-for-
Iostages swap.
But Jalala never appeared, and a
kheck of the Immigration Depart-
ment revealed that no Mr. Jalala
worked there. This alarmed Iran-
dacns familiar with the situation, as it
.Indicated that the case had moved
:beyond the Immigration Depart-
ment and probably into the hands of
'ran's secret police, the Sevama.
On Friday, Seib contacted the
Swiss Embassy. The embassy has
represented U.S. interests in Iran
.since the two countries broke dip-
omatic relations following the take-
over of the U.S. Embassy in. 1979.
? . A Swiss Embassy official accom-
panied Seib to the Immigration De-
jirtment yesterday morning after
the journalist reoet,,d a phone call,
again frown,Jalala, asking him to ap-
pear at 10 a.m. Seib said later that
he encountered great confusion and
no one seemed to know where his
passport was. After a two-hour wait
and after dealing with a number of
minor officials who seemed not to
know-or not to want to know-'
about the case, the Swiss diplomat
said nothing could be done. He took
Seib to the Swiss Embassy for pro-
tection.
About the same time, Fekri, of
the Guidance Ministry, disclaimed
any responsibility for the case.
"I'his is not our responsibility," he
told Seib and a group of reporters.
"Our responsibility was to bring you
to the front, nothing else. Now that
that has been accomplished, we
have nothing more to do with you."
Fekri's attitude all along had in-
dicated he was never happy with the
presence of American journalists in
Iran and throughout their visit he
had tried to restrict their report-
ing-other than on their visit to the
war front. He warned the three
Americans-Charles Campbell of
The Associated Press, Roberto Suro
of the New York Times and this cor-
respondent-who had stayed on to
lend Seib moral support that they
should not remain in Tehran any
longer or they, too, would be de-
tained.
Seib and another Swiss diplomat
returned to Seib's hotel room but
were not allowed to collect his be-
longings. When the two tried to
leave the hotel yesterday afternoon
they were detained by plainclothed
police.
The Swiss diplomat was released
about 30 minutes later.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000705990013-1