Canadian Journalist Beaten, Given Tea

This is an incredible story of a Canadian journalist mistaken for an anti-coup protestor.

By being detained, he was able to see the brutal conditions of other detainees.

“There has been a terrible misunderstanding,” I was told. “There is a bad situation in Tehran, and sometimes the officers get confused,” he said with a smile, while a plainclothes officer offered me water and tea.

In an almost surreal gesture, they introduced me to the riot police officer standing nearby, who shook my hand and said, “You are my friend,” and, “Canada is good.”

The officer told me I was free to go, and I was allowed to walk out of the Interior Ministry building with nothing more than bleeding welts on my neck and a swollen arm.

My journalist credentials and Canadian passport got me out of the Interior Ministry building, but dozens of others remained in that basement.

Please God protect the people left behind in that room.