
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 3, 1991                   TAG: 9104030020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

EX-HOSTAGE: ANOTHER MAY BE FREED

British businessman Roger Cooper arrived home Tuesday after five years in an Iranian prison on espionage charges, and said sheer stubbornness and force of will kept him going during his captivity.

Cooper, 55, was gaunt, pale and weary from 36 hours without sleep when he arrived in London via Frankfurt, Germany, accompanied by his daughter.

But speaking a few minutes later with reporters, he was quick-witted, good-humored and articulate in describing his arrest and his years spent in Iran's Evin high-security prison.

"I am still in a state of shock," said Cooper, who only learned he was being freed as he was being driven to the Tehran airport late Monday night.

Asked what kept him going since his arrest on Dec. 7, 1985, Cooper said: "Anyone who, like me, has been educated in an English public school and served in the ranks of the British army is quite at home in a Third World prison," he said wryly.

Cooper said the prison was "not as bad as you probably think," adding that he wanted to "be as positive as I can" to encourage recent developments in Iran fostered by President Hashemi Rafsanjani.

His release raised hopes of freedom for 13 Westerners missing in Lebanon. "I do have hope for another prisoner, not a British citizen, but I would rather not mention his case now," Cooper said. "I was given a semi-assurance that somebody might go free in the not-too-distant future."

Cooper refused to elaborate.

by CNB