Jason Rezaian said he believes that if you make yourself laugh, you can get through anything.

The Iranian-American journalist who works for The Washington Post was held in an Iranian prison for 544 days after being taken into custody by Iranian authorities in 2014. Rezaian was finally released earlier this year on Jan. 16.

His experiences as a journalist have made him the recipient for this year’s Tully Free Speech Award, presented by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. The award ceremony took place Monday at 4 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3. Students and faculty packed the auditorium as they watched Rezaian accept the prestigious award.

Newhouse’s Tully Center for Free Speech is designed to educate students and the community about the importance of free speech, according to the center’s website. Along with endowing the center to the school, class of 1969 alumna Joan Tully also created the Tully Award — given to a courageous journalist in the face of a free speech threat.

Before receiving the recognition, Roy Gutterman, an associate professor in Newhouse and director of the Tully Center, interviewed Rezaian about his life and experiences in Iran.

“I was denied all of the rights and the opportunities provided to me under Iranian law to defend myself,” Rezaian said, as he described an 18-month-long “nightmare full of twists and turns.”

The journalist also described the interrogations carried out against him as an “almost theatrical process that had to be played out.”

Rezaian was arrested on July 22, 2014, just a few hours after being given a renewal of his one-year press contract in the country. He and his wife were planning to visit the United States just three days later.

Armed security and people wearing masks raided their house and took them in a van, blindfolded and cuffed, after which the husband and wife were separated and placed in separate confinement. Rezaian was then placed in a tiny cell, just about 9-by-5 feet small.

“It was a huge shock,” Rezaian said.

Rezaian stressed that he doesn’t believe there was anything he did wrong during his time in Iran. He wrote a beat with stories about politics, the environment and the local culture. But Rezaian considered Iran a difficult place to be a journalist.

He reflected on how the Iranian authorities monitored his activities and expressed disapproval of his reporting.

Being in confinement has certainly changed Rezaian as an individual, particularly in the way he reports on and views the world, he said during a question and answer session with the audience.

“I’m more deliberate in choosing my words, I try to be more thoughtful,” he said. “I have a lightness in my step that I never had before.”

On being awarded the Tully Award, Rezaian told The Daily Orange after the event that it was special to come to Syracuse and have the opportunity to spend time with students and faculty who care about freedom of speech.

“I’m just really impressed by the level of commitment here at Newhouse and thrilled to be a recipient of the Tully Award,” he said.

Published on October 24, 2016 at 11:48 pm

Contact Saniya: ssmore@syr.edu