From the first day the Iranian authorities told the journalists that he can be charged with espionage, the sentence of which can even be death. As a proof they showed a photo, taken years before, of him and a British diplomat, who came out to be a press attaché. Iason Athanasiadis was denying the accusations and after 18 days in the Tehran prison, thanks to the persistent attempts of the Foreign Ministry, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Greek embassy in Tehran and the Iranian embassy in Athens, the story had a happy ending – Iason Athanasiadis was released a week ago and now he is with his family in Greece.

Regarding the riots, Iranians thought that the demonstrations will develop into “gentle” revolution. According to Mr. Athanasiadis there were people who were educated abroad on how to organize riots and write slogans but this was not the key to the development of the events. Regarding the authenticity of the election results, Iason stressed that it cannot be said for sure that there were any irregularities, because journalists were not allowed to enter the election centers but the fact that 40 million bulletins were counted in less than 24 hours and that the other candidates had received little votes, is suspicious. In conclusion Mr. Athanasiadis shared that according to him the events after the elections in Iran are “a local subject and we should not interfere, because probably it is a stage, through which the Iranian society must pass – a local reform…”

Iason Athanasiadis has graduated from Oxford, majoring in Oriental studies; he has specialized in Cambridge and studied in Tehran. From September 2008 he is living in Istanbul. He is the only child of Polimnia Athanasiadi - Ancient History teacher in the Athenian University, who is a famous Eastern researcher. Mr. Athanasiadis said that his mother had passed her Eastern civilizations history interest onto him and when he was a child he used to go to the Middle East with her during her researches. Plimnia Athanasiadi is an expert in the history of Late Antiquity and the Middle East and she is examining the connection between Neo-Platonism and Islam – a religion, which she respects. Mrs. Athansiadi is a holder of the prestigious award Ipekci for her translation of Yanus Emre’s poetry. Iason Athanasiadis sharesthat in order to express his gratitude to his mother for the influence she passé onto him, he decided to use her last name in all his journalistic activities.  

photo: NAFTEMPORIKI newspaper