Jason and his wife Yegi were both foreign correspondents in Tehran when members of the Revolutionary Guard knocked on their door in 2014. The Guards hauled them to jail, and Jason, who holds two passports, was accused of spying for the United States. The Iranian government held a sham trial and kept him in the notorious Evin Prison for about a year and a half. Jason and Michael talk about the nature of the Islamic Republic, about captive life, and about H.R. 9495, a House bill that could destroy American nonprofits through a simple, unfounded accusation of “terrorist funding.”
The U.S. has laws to stop terrorist funding; but this bill started life as a wholesome idea by Jason to make a returning hostage’s life a little easier. He explains the history of H.R. 9495 — and his opinion of the different bill now making its way through Congress — in the paid version of the podcast.
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Resources:
Mike’s essay on Salman Rushdie and Iran
Jason’s memoir PRISONER, from Harper Collins
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