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About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1987)
a io — me ereui gict muieiui, reoruary iy, Detained Journalist Says Prayer, Principles Helped Him HAYS, Kan. (NC) — Religious principles and prayer helped Wall Street Journal reporter Gerald F. Seib cope when detained by Iranian officials, he told an assembly of students at his Catholic alma mater in Hays. Seib told the assembly at Thomas More Prep-Marian High School Feb. 13 that the one night he spent in an “honest-to-God jail cell” in Iran gave him seemingly endless time to pray and form a plan of action. “It happened to be a Sunday night,” Seib said, “so I said a Mass to myself that night. It's amazing how much of the Mass you can remember when you’re in a pinch like that and need to pray. I forgot some of the second half of the eucharistic prayer, otherwise I got it all. “There was no sermon,” he added in a less serious tone. “I didn’t know what to say, so I skipped it.” Seib, 31, a native of Hays, was detained after the Iranian government invited him and other foreign journalists to cover its latest offensive against Iraq in late January. Iran ian news reports said Seib was thought to be an Israeli spy. The reporter, who with his wife runs the Egypt-based Middle East bureau of The Wall Street Journal, was releas ed Feb. 6. He returned to Hays Feb. 12. After the “Mass,” Seib said he prayed more and then started pacing around the stark prison cell, which he described as 8 feet by 12 feet, without a bed, hot and win- do wless. “This was the second night I was (detained) and there wasn't any reason to think I wouldn't be there for months. There was nothing that had been said to me at that point, and nothing in the track record of the Iranians that would suggest I was going to be out very soon, so I thought I had better get myself prepared in my head for that possibility. "I decided what I needed really wasn't a game plan but principles since I really didn’t know what would come next, and I couldn't exactly plan strategies for the unknown. “The first one was complete and utter trust in God, not that there was much choice at that stage of the game anyway, but it seemed like a decent starting point. “The second one was complete honesty. I was debating whether to be tricky with my interrogators, whether I should tell them what they wanted to hear, whether I should try to outsmart them, and in the end I decided I had nothing to hide so what's the point. Honesty is the best policy and I figured I'd stick with it. In the end I think it was a smart decision. “And the third principle was: don't apologize for who you are or what you are. If you're going to go down, at least go down with dignity. " Seib said he decided he would stick by those principles “no matter what happened.” “And over the next two days it all turned around. It may even be partly because of those principles. I don’t know. All I know is I felt a lot better inside and whatever happened over the next couple days was a lot easier to tolerate than what happened the previous days.” Soviet Dissident Dies "With Dignity" In U.S. BY LAURIE HANSEN WASHINGTON (NC) — Soviet dissident Inna Meiman died “with dignity” Feb. 9, said the 25-year-old Catholic woman who fasted 25 days to bring attention to her plight. “Her whole struggle was a fight for dignity, and at least she did die with that,” said Lisa Paul in a telephone inter view Feb. 10. But Miss Paul called the Soviet decision to keep Mrs. Meiman’s husband from accompanying her to the United States “incredibly barbaric.” Mrs. Meiman suffered from cancer of the upper spine. The 54-year-old woman, who arrived in Washington Jan. 19, had been trying to obtain a visa since 1982 in order to obtain medical treatment. Had she died in the Soviet Union, Miss Paul said, Mrs. Meiman would have had to endure “the mental torture of constant battling against Soviet authorities” even in her final days. For four years prior to her release, the Soviets “tortured” Mrs. Meiman by ignoring her pleas for treat ment and painkillers, Miss Paul charged. Permission to travel to the West was granted the ailing Mrs. Meiman after a long battle entailing congressional lobbying of Soviet officials and embassy personnel, and the hunger strike by Miss Paul, a Washington resident and per sonal friend. Mrs. Meiman was granted a one-year travel visa and entered Georgetown University Hospital on her arrival in Washington. She had undergone numerous cancer opera tions in the Soviet Union, but was told the treatment she needed is only available in the West. Her husband, Naum Meiman, 75, also ill with heart problems and prostate cancer, was denied permission to leave the Soviet Union. His petition has been repeatedly refused because of the classified nature of mathematical work he did 30 years ago, according to the National Con ference on Soviet Jewry. Since 1974 Meiman has been involved in the Soviet human rights movement and was an active participant in the now- disbanded Helsinki Monitoring Committee. yo\jr/ Independent Insurance § Aqent j ^ MffvU yokj mmwr J 3400 Peachtree Road. N E. Atlanta. Ga. 30326 (404) 261 721 2 “The only insurance people you ’ll ever need” The State Department Feb. 10 called for the Soviet Union to allow Meiman to come to the United States for his wife's funeral. Miss Paul said she spent many hours during the last weeks of Mrs. Meiman’s life with her. “It was a good time for her,” she said, adding Mrs. Meiman was “very alert and coherent” up until she died “peacefully and relatively painlessly.” During her last days, the Soviet dissident talked of “everything and anything," Miss Paul said. “She asked people to fight for (release of) her husband, her son and her sister. She talked with her sister frequently. “She was impressed with all the different medical gadgets and equipment (in the hospital). She joked that no matter where you are in the world the nurses have trouble finding your veins." Miss Paul said Mrs. Meiman, who spoke English fluently, was “intrigued by every American she met. She'd listen to what the orderlies were saying outside her room and was always impressed.” Miss Paul, a native of Appleton, Wis., completed a 25-day fast on Mrs. Meiman’s behalf Jan. 7. She had worked with Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., and other members of Congress to lobby for Mrs. Meiman’s release. The Piano Tuning Company featuring "Total Piano Carol" Tuning — Repairs Rebuilding Refinishing ‘Over 30 yrs. exp.* P.C. Boyd, 458-3858 ‘5.00 Off With Thit Ad FIRST TO HAVE GUINNESS, HARP, AND BASS ALE ON TAP!!! 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