Event Coverage Highlight

On April 24, 2019, Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter who spent almost two years in Tehran’s Evin prison, discussed his book Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison–Solitary Confinement, a Sham Trial, High-Stakes Diplomacy, and the Extraordinary Efforts It Took to Get Me Out. Farnaz Fassihi, senior writer at The Wall Street Journal, moderated the discussion.

From 2009 until his arrest in 2014, Rezaian covered stories a range of stories to help American readers to gain a better understanding of Iran. He worked as a freelancer for a variety of outlets, and later as The Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief. In July 2014 Rezaian and his wife Yeganeh Salehi were detained in their home, and he spent 544 days in prison. He was released on the same day that the historic nuclear deal between Iran and world powers was implemented.

Fassihi covers diplomacy at the U.N. and foreign policy following a 14-year career as a war correspondent in the Middle East. She has covered 6 wars and many uprisings from the invasion of Afghanistan to Iraq, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and beyond. She has won numerous national awards including two OPC awards and last year was honored with an Ellis Island Medal of Honor. She is the author of a book on the Iraq war, Waiting for an Ordinary Day.