Iran arrests reporter

Press, 3 February 1987, Page 6

Iran arrests reporter

NZPA-Reuter Washington

The United States has demanded the release of a "Wall Street Journal” reporter arrested in Iran apparently on charges of spying for Israel. A State Department spokesman said Gerald Seib, the Middle East bureau chief for the “Journal,” “should be released immediately and allowed to depart forthwith.”

Seib, aged 30, who was arrested on Sunday, was among -50 foreign correspondents invited to visit the scene of last month’s Iranian offensive on the southern front of the Gulf war.

Teheran radio said earlier yesterday that

Iranian authorities had arrested an “Israeli spy” who had entered the country with a forged journalist’s passport. It did not give his name or nationality but said he was among the correspondents invited to Iran.

The State Department spokesman said Switzerland, which represents the United States in Iran, had confirmed Seib’s arrest. The United States did not know why he had been arrested because he had a proper passport and was in Iran at the invitation of its Government Seib has been based in Cairo for the “Journal” since January, 1985. He reports on the Middle East with his wife, Barbara Rosewicz, who is also a “Journal” reporter. Norman Pearlstine, the managing editor of the “Journal” said Seib was “a highly respected foreign correspondent and there can be no basis for his detention.”