Sunday, August 15, 2010

Thirty-seven: Between Two Worlds - Roxana Saberi

My focus shirted next to Iran.  Roxana Saberi was held for 100 days in an Iranian prison.  This book details her time in that prison and the women she met inside there.  She was accused of being a spy and using her researching a book as a cover.

Roxana makes a false confession under distress and ends up recanting that confession while in jail.  She uses hunger strikes as a way to pressure her jailers on letting her go.  She barely is able to talk to her lawyer as he prepares her defense.  She realizes early on that she can't trust anything she is told.  Eventually her parents and boyfriend - a native Iranian - make enough "noise" to get her released.

I remember seeing the press release NPR and other news organizations wrote in support of her release come across my inbox last year.  It was encouraging and motivating to see how a strong and smart woman was able to mentally survive this ordeal.  Saberi mixes in stories about Iran's culture and historical events within her own story.

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