Smeared WSJ reporter says she will continue to do her job

Farnaz Fassihi, a reporter of The Wall Street Journal, writes a first-person story about how the Iranian government has accused her of a spy for her coverage.

Fassihi writes, “Since I left Iran in 2009, Iranian officials have repeatedly told me and the Journal that I am not allowed to go back as a reporter. When I inquired about making a personal visit, I was told that I was welcome to do so but that they couldn’t guarantee my safety.

“Journalist friends and activist sources jailed during the 2009 protests contacted me after they were released to warn me against going back to Iran. They said that during interrogations in the Revolutionary Guard’s notorious ward in Tehran’s Evin Prison, they were questioned for hours about my work.

“Being smeared as a spy has taken a personal toll too. I was raised to take pride in the homeland that my family left behind shortly after the start of the Iran-Iraq War. I miss Iran—the majestic Alborz Mountains, the ancient chenar trees that form a canopy over Valiasr Street in Tehran. It is heartbreaking to think that I may never again have tea and sugar cookies with my aging grandmother or be able to place flowers on my father’s grave.”

Read more here.