Underwriting support from:
/www.maziarbahari.com
/www.maziarbahari.com
Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, who was detained by Iranian security forces and held in solitary confinement for 118 days, brings his story of survival to Grand Rapids this week.
In the wake of the contested 2009 elections in Iran, Bahari was in his native country to report on what he hoped would be an historic turning point. His incarceration on trumped-up espionage charges was part of a brutal goverment crackdown on journalists, involving prolonged physical and psychological torture at the hands of interrogators. An international campaign to free Bahari ultimately led to his release and return to the West, from where he now speaks openly against the Iranian regime.
That saga is described in Maziar Bahari's new book, "Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival."
The latest speaker in Grand Rapids Community College's Diversity Lecture Series, Bahari will speak at Fountain Street Church 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9.
"Body of Lies" author David Ignatius says of the story, "A riveting, brutally honest account, Then They Came for Me is one of the most powerful prison memoirs I have ever read. This haunting and unforgettable book will make you angry at the prison that is today's Iran, and happy that a fine journalist like Maziar Bahari escaped to tell the truth about the regime."
The talk is free and open to the public.
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