Captivity in Iran,” which was released to book stores last Tuesday.
As part of her book promotion, she is making a tour of the country and offering interviews widely. Saberi was born in New Jersey of an Iranian-born father and a Japanese-born mother. She grew up fascinated by her father’s homeland and went there as a free-lance journalist after completing college.
Saberi, 32, told the Associated Press that although the book was therapeutic, it was difficult to complete. She had to relive January 31, 2009, the day she was arrested, as well as two weeks of solitary confinement. Prison authorities did not allow Saberi to make any phone calls until 11 days after her imprisonment. Even then, the authorities instructed her to tell her father she had been arrested for buying alcohol.
In the early days of her prison sentence, Saberi used the bottom edge of a toothpaste tube to scratch three words onto the heater of her cell: “God save Iran.” She did not finish, but said she had intended to include “from these people.” Saberi told National Public Radio (NPR) she meant “those kinds of people who had put me in prison that day.”
Saberi said she knew of individuals who had made false confessions under Iranian interrogation and stressful situations. Some of them recanted their statements after they were released. Saberi thought, “I’m just going to do the same thing. I’m going to make a false confession, I’m going to get out of here, and I’m going to recant everything.”
But, she ended up recanting her story in prison after being taken out of solitary confinement and being put in a cell with two of the seven leaders of the minority Baha’i community—Mahvash and Fariba. These two women each suffered solitary confinement for six and four months, respectively; yet, both women refused to sign any confession.
“I was very ashamed of myself. I was much weaker than I thought I would be if I was ever under pressure,” Saberi said.
Saberi said she was never physically tortured but she was put under severe psychological and mental pressure.
“The first few days, I was interrogated for several hours, from morning until evening, blindfolded, facing a wall, by up to four men, and threatened that I would be put in prison for 10 to 20 years or maybe even face execution. The really difficult thing was they didn’t let me tell anyone where I was,” Saberi said.
She was eventually sentenced to eight years for espionage, but on appeal that conviction was voided and she was sentenced to a two-year sentence, all of it suspended, for possession of a classified document. She was released May 11, 2009.
Saberi said she was ordered not to tell her story of imprisonment to anyone because Iran has ways of getting to her family. The idea of the threat being carried out still haunts her.
“You know, I don’t hate those people. Although I hate what they did to me, it doesn’t mean I hate them,” she said.
“Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran” is a story that fulfills a request one of her cellmates made.
“Roxana, when you go back to America, please tell others that our country is not only about the nuclear issue. It’s also about people like us,” Mafash said.
Mafash wanted Roxana to help tell the story of how the Iranian regime violates human rights. Both Mafash and Fariba are still in Evin prison. There trial began recently.