Author Description

Roger Cooper was arrested at gunpoint for alleged espionage while on a business trip to Tehran in December 1985. So began an extraordinary mental and physical struggle with his Iranian captors that was to last five years, three months and 25 days. Long after his parody of a trial in Evin gaol, Cooper learnt of his sentence: 'Death plus ten years.' Asking 'Which comes first?' he was told he would be held for ten years and then hanged. He replied: 'Please don't make it the other way round.' For 25 years Cooper had worked in Iran as a journalist, teacher, Persian translator, business consultant and Middle Eastern expert. Now he found himself beaten and blindfolded and threatened with indefinite gaol unless he 'confessed'. This book describes Roger Cooper's experiences in one of the most feared prisons in the world: his interrogation, "confession", trial, contacts with other prisoners and surrounding conditions. With its vivid descriptions of prison life and personal survival techniques, "Death Plus Ten Years" takes its place among the classics of modern prison literature, an outstanding triumph of courage, endurance and humour in the face of overwhelming odds.