Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist who was falsely accused of espionage and imprisoned for 100 days in Iran, will speak on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at the Clayton Center for the Arts on the Maryville College campus.

Her lecture, titled “On the Streets of Tehran,” will focus on the six years she lived in Iran as a journalist and witnessed the developments leading up to the 2009 disputed Iranian election, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iranians calling for freedom and fighting for free and fair elections. The Iranian regime reacted by using deadly violence to stop to the protests, which sparked outrage among its citizens, as well as the international community. During her lecture, Saberi will discuss the political, cultural and historical significance of those events as they continue to develop and explain what it means for human rights and democracy, the Middle East and the world.

Free and open to the public, the event is part of the Fall 2010 Community Conversations series and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Clayton Center’s Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre. A book signing for her memoir, Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran, will follow the lecture.