U.S. JOURNALIST IS HELD BY IRAN; REASON UNCLEAR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740092-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 18, 2012
• Sequence Number: 92
• Publication Date: February 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

U.S. Jo~rrnalist
Is I-Meld .~~ Iran,:
Reason Unclear
his immediate release from detention
and from Iran.
'Jerry Seib entered Iran legally on a
valid U.S. passport and is obviously a
well-known and well-respected journal-
ist," Mr. Pearlstine continued. "We see
no reason to link Mr. Seib's detention
with the Iranian news agency report."
The State Department issued a state-
ment in Washington urging that Mr.
Seib "be released immediately and al-
lowed to depart forthwith." The state-
ment also said that "from official dip-
omatic sources, we do not know why
ne has been detained."
Protest Is Planned
In Bern, a Swiss Foreign Ministry
spokesman said the Swiss Ambassador
in Teheran planned to protest the de=l
The man said there had been a case
of mistaken identity because Mr. Seib's
name resembled that of a man sought
sa,dhhe problem hadebeeneresolvled
and his passport would be returned.
The same account of Mr. Seib's diffi-
culties was given by officials of both
the Guidance and Foreign Ministries.
Cancelling plans to leave Iran early
~~.
~_ By ROBERTO-SURO -~
~~-SpecYa to a New York Times-
ROME, Feb. 1 - An American jour-
nalist has been detained in Iran, the
Swiss Foreign Ministry said today.
The journalist, Gerald F. Sei the
Middle East correspon ent for The
Wall Street Journal, had spent ]0 days
in Iran at the invitation of the Govern-
ment before a group of men seized him
outside his hotel in Teheran Saturday
evening. His whereabouts today were
unknown.
A diplomat from the Swiss Embassy
who was accompanying the journalist
was also detained briefly but was later
released, according to a Swiss Foreign
Ministry spokesman.
Iran Says Spy Posed as Journalist
Mr. Seib sought consular help from
the Swiss Embassy, which represents
American interests in Iran, after immi-
gration authorities impounded his
passport Thursday as he made plans to
depart.
Shortly after his detention, the Ira-
nianpress agency reported that a "spy
of the Zionist regime" posing as a jour-
nalist had been arrested after entering
Iran on a false passport. But the
agency did not state his name or na-
tiona[ity,_
Mr. Seib was not specifically accused
of anything when he was taken away,
according to diplomats in Teheran.
In New York today, Norman Pearl-
stine, the managing editor of The WaH
Street Journal, said: "Jerry Seib is a,
highly respected foreign correspondent
,and there can be no basis for the deten-
lion. We are seeking explanations
through Iranian and other diplomatic
channels. We hope.any confusion will
be cleared up and we are requesting
Some see the case
as a product of
factional strife.
tension of Mr. Seib and of Thomas Fur-'
glester, the Swss diplomat who was Friday, Mr. Seib waited for his pas
with M S
?b
e
The United States has had no diplo-
matic representation in Teheran since
the United States Embassy there was
stormed on Nov. 4, 1979, and its staff
held hostage for 444 days.
Mr. Seib was one of more than 100
journalists from around the world in-;
vited to visit Iran in recettLweeks. He~
had participated last week in a Govern-i
ment~scorted tour of the battlefront in'
the Iran-Iraq war.
Mr. Seib, a 30-year-old native of Kan-
sas, has been a reporter for The Wall
Street Journal since 1978. He and his
wife, Barbara Rosewicz, have been
based in Cairo for The Journal since
1985. Although Mr. Seib had traveled
extensively throughout the Middle
East, this was his first trip to Iran.
Several Iranian men, who refused to
identify themselves, seized Mr. Seib
and Mr. Furglester as they were leav-
ing Mr. Seib's hotel at about 6 P.M. Sat-
urday, according to the diplomats in
Teheran. After about half an hour the
men released Mr. Furglester and re-~
turned him to the hotel, they said ~
Some of the diplomats speculated
that Mr. Seib's detention might reflect
disagreements within the Iranian Gov-
ernment over the invitation extended
to foreign journalists, including more
than a dozen Americans, to publicize
Iran's recent battlefield victories
against Iraq.
Visa Was Extended
Like most of the other journalists,
Mr. Seib was issued afive-day visa. But
officials of the Ministry of Islamic, i
Guidance, which supervised the visit,' ,
told the journalists their visas would be
extended so they might tour the front
and attend a news conference.
Of the visiting reporters left in Iran,
all but Mr. Seib were given their pass-
ports back, with the extension, on
Thursday evening. Mr. Seib, however,
received several phone calls Thursday
afternoon and evening from a man who
said there was a minor difficulty with
the journalist's passport. ~
port. He was eventually told to go to the
immigration office Saturda
y morning
because Friday was the Moslem day of
worship.
On Saturday Mr. Seib, accompanied
by Mr. Furglester and three other
American correspondents, including
this reporter, went to the Guidance
Ministry press office. Senior officials
refused to receive them.
At the immigration office Mr. Seib
was told to wait because~his~passpoct
boihld Ytof- ~ flp!tthd, atttb ~ti,e ?oft'tcials
there told the Swiss diplomat to go
away. After waiting almost two hours,
Mr. Seib left with Mr. Furglester and
they wgnt t~ th~,diplorttat'~S'hame:
Who Sougat. Mim? 'Nu[>~~y!"r
.That afternoon several men ap-
peared at Mr. Seib's hotel and began
making inquiries. They asked this cor-
! respondent where Mr. Seib could be
found. When asked who they were, the
Iranian translating the conversation
said "nobody."
' Mr. Seib returned to the hotel in the
company of Mr. Furglester about 5:30
P.M., saying he would wait in his room.
The hotel employees, however, said
they could not find the key, so Mr. Seib
decided to leave the hotel.
As he and Mr. Furglester were walk-
ing to the diplomat's car, they were
seized. The three remaining American
reporters, who had extended their stay
to show support for Mr. Seib, left Tehe-
ran shortly afterward, having been
warned that they might face possible
unpleasantness because their visas
had expired.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/18 :CIA-RDP9O-009658000605740092-2