Russian journalist arrested in Iran

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Russian journalist Yulya Yuzik has been arrested in Tehran, according to journalist Boris Voytsekhovsky. Yuzik’s daughter has also said that her mother was arrested in the Iranian capital.

According to Voytsekhovsky the reporter is in Tehran as a correspondent upon an invitation. He claimed in a Facebook post that Yuzik’s passport was taken at the airport and she was told that it will be returned upon her departure.

“However yesterday Yulya was detained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corpsby breaching into her hotel room,” Voytsekhovsky said. She was allowed to make a 1 minute phone call to Moscow on October 3.

According to Voytsekhovsky, the journalist's former husband, Yulya Yuzik is accused in espionage for Israeli intelligence.

Yuzik previously worked for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper and the Russian Newsweek publication.

She is an author and investigative journalist since 2003.

Yuzik, 38, is the author of Brides of Allah, a 2003 book about female suicide bombers. Among her other works is a book about the 2004 Beslan school siege.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan