To stop her, ‘You have to kill me’
Photojournalist Yalda Moaiery received a 15-year prison sentence for documenting deadly protests in Iran. But she’s still waiting for the Iranian regime to arrest her, if they ever do.
She joins Jason to talk about her alleged crime and how the government uses severe prison sentences to silence reporters and political dissent.
“It’s better to be in jail than be part of their propaganda,” Moaiery says. The conversation is a personal account of the costs of journalism and the determination to keep doing it.
Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. Editing by Ted Muldoon.
00:00 They put me in jail, they tried to stop me — Yalda
00:09 I told them “you have to kill me”
00:15 Freedom Desk intro
00:47 Yalda’s 15-year prison sentence in Iran
01:36 Yalda’s photography background, conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and more
02:25 How many times have you been arrested?
02:49 Telling the truth, not spreading Iranian propaganda
03:21 Yalda’s alleged crime: Taking pictures of government massacre on Jan. 8 and Jan. 9, pictures of U.S. strikes on Tehran
04:26 Journalists being silence and jailed in Iran
05:59 Jason’s first encounter with Yalda over 20 years ago
06:45 Jason gets a terrifying, unlisted phone call from the Iranian government
09:05 How the Islamic Republic keeps people apart
12:11 Why the delay in sending Yalda to prison after getting her 15-year sentence
12:44 “They want me to be silent”
14:22 How the U.S.-Iran war has changed press freedom in Iran
14:48 How prison sentences work in Iran
17:38 The only way to stop me is to kill me
18:09 Yalda’s friends, including Jason, want her to flee Iran, but she won’t leave
19:00 Scared of “wasting her life,” not scared of prison
19:33 “Will we ever meet again?”
