Other Foreigners Detained in Iran

In the past seven years, other journalists and American travelers have been arrested in Iran for spying. All have denied the accusations.

▪ Roxana Saberi: An Iranian-American journalist arrested in January 2009 on accusations of spying, and sentenced to eight years. She was released after 100 days and wrote a book about her experience.

▪ Maziar Bahari: An Iranian-Canadian journalist arrested in 2009 while covering the Iranian elections for Newsweek. His memoir about his 118-day imprisonment was made into a movie, “Rosewater,”directed by Jon Stewart.

▪ Shane M. Bauer, Joshua F. Fattal, and Sarah E. Shourd: In July 2009, the three Americans were arrested as they hiked near the Iran-Iraq border. They were accused of spying. Ms. Shourd was released in September 2010 and the two men were released a year later. They co-wrote a book about their time in prison.

▪ Amir Hekmati: A veteran of the United States Marine Corps who was arrested in August 2011 while visiting family. He is the longest-held American prisoner in Iran. Sentenced to death for espionage, his punishment was reduced to 10 years in prison.

▪ Saeed Abedini: An Iranian-American pastor in custody since September 2012. He was sentenced a year later to eight years on charges of disturbing national security.

▪ Reza Taghavi: A retired Iranian-American businessman arrested in 2008. He was held for two years on suspicion of having ties to an opposition group accused of bombing a mosque, and was released without ever having been charged with a crime.

Correction: May 27, 2015
An earlier version of this list misstated the number of days that Roxana Saberi was held. It was 100 days, not 101.