Interview with Danish journalism student held for six days in Iran

Reporters Without Borders interviewed Niels Krogsgård, a student of journalism at the University of Southern Denmark, who was imprisoned in Iran from 4 to 10 November. When did you arrive in Iran and why did you go there? I left Copenhagen on 13 October with another student from the journalism school. We arrived in Tehran the following evening. We travelled on tourist visas, for which we were subsequently criticised by the Danish authorities. But when I talked to professional journalists, I realised I would never get a work visa. And even if I had obtained one, I would not have been able to work there, because I would have been followed constantly and my sources could have been arrested. What were you going to do in Tehran? We went to Iran with the aim of doing our end-of-course project. The idea was to see what remained of last June’s protest movement. In Denmark, as elsewhere, people are only interested in matters to do with Iran’s nuclear policy. We wanted to see if Iranians continued to oppose the government and, if so, in what form. We were also interested in the students who listen to Pink Floyd and other 1970s rock groups without really knowing what that decade represented in Europe. We were also interested in the women who have their noses redone and wear the veil as low as possible. What difficulties did you have when you were there? It was very easy to meet people who illustrated the stories we wanted to tell. They took risks by talking to us, but they were ready to do that. Did you feel you were being followed? Later, during interrogation, the police told me that I had been followed from the time of my arrival but I strongly doubt that. The questions they asked proved the contrary. How did you come to be arrested? I was arrested on 4 November. Government opponents organised demonstrations on the day of the official commemoration of the taking of the US embassy in 1979. I decided to remain at a certain distance. I knew it would be dangerous. I took the subway. I had planned to get off at the stop just before the US embassy and then observe from afar what was happening. But when the train finally stopped, I realised that all the people in it were demonstrators. I was right in the middle. When we came out on to the street (…) there were members of the Basiji Islamic militia. Then policemen arrived on motorcycles, fired tear gas and then started clubbing everyone. One of them hit me. I managed to escape and find refuge in a side street. People were crying because of the tear gas. A lot of them had blood on their faces. When things calmed down, I went back to the main street. But suddenly a Basiji appeared out of nowhere. He grabbed me, screamed at me, hit me and then forced me to take a seat in a car. It was around midday. Then you were taken to a police station? Yes (…) In the car, they forced me to lower my head and covered it with a pullover so that people would not see they had arrested a westerner. I did not see any other foreigner at the police station. I underwent my first interrogation. It lasted between three and four hours. At the end, the policeman said I would probably be release by the end of the day because I had said nothing bad about Islam and I seemed to be telling the truth. But you were not released? When I came out, it was getting dark. It must have been about 8 pm. They made me sit in a big vehicle and blindfolded me. I heard the voices of young people beside me. That is when I realised I was not going to be released. When we arrived at the prison, a policeman told me I would probably get out the next day or the day after. What were the prison conditions like? I was put in a cell of about 10 square metres in area. There was no bed. Just a pink mattress on the ground. A bit of sun came in through two windows with wire mesh. I had no idea where I was. I later learned that I was in Tehran’s Evin prison, which has a terrible reputation. I was alone. I did not meet any other prisoners except when I went to the toilets. The only people I was allowed to talk to were the interrogators. How many times were you interrogated? After the first time at the police station, I was interrogated from 8 to 9 am on the first day in the prison. Then nothing on the Friday. Then two more times, on the Saturday and the Sunday. I was released on Tuesday, 10 November at about 8 pm, after meeting the Danish ambassador a few hours earlier. How did these interrogations go? They took place in a small room. There was the interpreter on my right and the interrogator on my left. And behind me, there was someone in a suit and tie, who was probably from some ministry. Each time they began by shouting but they were never violent. They said they knew who I was and what I was doing in Iran, but they wanted to hear me say it. They also said they knew I lied during the previous interrogation but they were giving me another chance. Each time they asked me the same questions: what I thought of Ahmadinejad, Islam, Israel, the United States, Great Britain and the nuclear issue. They also wanted to know what I knew about the 4 November demonstrations. Did the fact that you are a journalist make things worse for you? At first, I stuck to the cover that my friend and I had agreed on at the start of our visit. But they cast doubt above all on the fact that I was a student. Then, during the final interrogation sessions, they asked me if I was a member of the Union of Danish Journalists. I realised that, if they knew that much, the story must have begun to have some impact in Denmark. Did they interrogate you about your sources? Yes, they asked me to give them names, to write them down on a sheet of paper. I gave them first names, very common ones that came to mind. I could never have lived with the thought of going back to Denmark knowing that people I had met were going to be jailed in much worse conditions that the ones in which I was held. Did you meet other journalists during your stay in Iran? Not at all. So I was surprised to learn that other journalists were arrested as a result of that demonstration.