Maziar Bahari - Arrest, Imprisonment, Release

Arrest, Imprisonment, Release

On the morning of June 21, 2009, during the 2009 Iranian Election Protests, Bahari was arrested at his family's home in Tehran and taken to Evin Prison. In July, while incarcerated, he appeared in a televised confession (broadcast internationally by PressTV) telling his interviewer that Western journalists worked as spies; that he had covered "illegal demonstrations" and "illegal gatherings", and was helping promote a "colour revolution" (i.e. peaceful, democratic regime-change).

His confession was dismissed by his family, his colleagues, and Reporters Without Borders, saying that it must have come under duress. Outside Iran, an international campaign to free him was headed by his wife and included petitions launched by Committee to Protect Journalists, Index on Censorship, International PEN, and groups of documentary filmmakers. Newsweek ran full-page advertisements in several major newspapers calling for his release. US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke publicly of his case.

On October 20, after 118 days in jail and charged with 11 counts of espionage, Bahari was released on $300,000 bail and a promise to spy on dozens of "anti-revolutionary elements" inside and outside Iran for the Revolutionary Guard and report to them weekly (a promise he had no intention of keeping). He was allowed to leave the country and return to London days before the birth of his daughter.