Author Jason Rezaian on Being Imprisoned in Iran

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Of course, they charged you with espionage. But we all know that those are trumped up charges. What was it like? Describe, you know, you having to defend yourself under hours and hours of interrogation in your prison cell in these endless trips to the kangaroo court, if I could say that that you were subjected to. Your interrogators threatened to dismember you. I mean, they were really very violent in their words.

JASON REZAIAN: In the initial days and weeks, they succeed in breaking you down in a way that you feel nothing more than as if you’re a scared animal awaiting another beating. It is dehumanizing in every way, but as time dragged on and the case and awareness around my case kind of picked up momentum, I began to feel a bit of strength and confidence, not only in the fact that I knew that I was innocent but also that the assertions that they were making about me were not ones that the rest of the world was going to buy into. So it made it very much easier for me to stand up for myself especially when I was outside of the prison walls. I mean, you talk about that kangaroo court …

REZAIAN: It is the revolutionary court of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It has got a very serious name and the consequences are often very serious, but the process that takes place in there can’t be taken seriously. It is so farcical and ridiculous, there is no evidence, you’re not able to defend yourself, you’re being taped for the purpose probably of propaganda, state media propaganda purposes. You know, I just thought to myself, “Here I am, I’ve been going through this for so long.” The wind in some ways, although there are four big very towering walls around me. The wind is at my back because the world is with me.