Iason Athanasiadis,
a journalist reporting from Iran on a grant from the Pulitzer Center,
has been in Iranian custody since June 17. The Greek government has
taken the lead in efforts to secure his release. The article below,
written for Salon by University of Southern California professor Sandy Tolan,
tells of Iason's remarkable career and why he has touched so many
people, in journalism and beyond. Read earlier posts on Iason's case here and view his work with the Pulitzer Center in Iran, Turkey and Greece.
Iran: "The guest is God's friend"
(Salon, July 2, 2009)
By Sandy Tolan
Jul. 02, 2009 |
Journalism's
deepest, most honest contributions inevitably spring from on-the-ground
reporting, unencumbered by policy agendas in Washington, London or
other foreign capitals. That's what epitomizes the work of my friend
and colleague Iason Athanasiadis, and it's why his detention by Iranian authorities, on June 17 when trying to board a flight out of Iran, is so troubling.
Iason, who has written for the Christian Science Monitor,
Los Angeles Times and publications across Europe and the Middle East,
comes from that breed of journalist in pursuit of something beyond just
"the story." To work in Iran, he learned Farsi; to understand its
people, he lived with them for three years. His work, as a writer and
photojournalist, reflects deep empathy with the Iranian people, an
understanding of their historical legacy, and an analysis of the
changes swirling around them. Those values lend an independence and
credibility to Iason's work that allow him, on the one hand, to produce
the revealing photo essay "Children of the Revolution,"
which captures the hopes of a new generation of Iranians; and on the
other, to invoke, in his writing on the nation's history, "Britain's imperialist past and expert meddling in Iran's internal affairs," which "has left most ordinary Iranians nursing a distrust that endures." Read Sandy Tolan's article in Salon.

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