NIMEP Met With Iranian Journalist Yeganeh Rezaian to Discuss Freedom of the Press

On Wednesday, 2/22, members of the Tufts New Initiative for Middle Eastern Peace and other Tufts students met with Yeganeh Rezaian to discuss U.S.-Iranian relations under Trump and freedom of the press. Yeganeh is an Iranian journalist who worked in the country until her 2014 arrest, along with her husband, on charges of espionage. She is now a fellow at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Yeganeh spoke first with Tufts students about Iran's nuclear program and the ineffectiveness of international sanctions, and about the future of U.S.-Iranian relations under Trump. She then moved on to discuss her experience with freedom of expression in Iran, and the difficulties faced there by female journalists. Though many of these issues are complex and are not served by a simple solution, she spoke of her optimism with regards to the rise of internet in Iran. She closed by encouraging students in the United States to take advantage of the freedoms afforded to them and to not become complacent in the task of upholding democracy.