Iranian state television reported late Sunday that Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian has been convicted on charges that included espionage.
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The piece argued that the “travesty” of Rezaian’s conviction should “shame the Iranian government” into releasing him, particularly to prevent questions from global investors who might be concerned over their personnel’s vulnerability to similar types of arrests in Iran.
Baron said there would be an appeal, and Ahsan is expected to ask the court to release Rezaian on bail until a final resolution is made.
The brother of Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post journalist convicted in Iran for allegedly being an America spy, has decried what he called his “cruel and inhumane” detention.
He reportedly faces up to 20 years in prison.
Rezaian, who was born in San Francisco and grew up in Marin County, was working under a press pass granted to foreign journalists, when he was arrested and accused of espionage on July 22, 2014.
The presumption, Sennott said, is that once Congress votes to approve the deal with Iran, Rezaian will be released.
“The contemptible end to this “judicial process” leaves Iran’s senior leaders with an obligation to right this grievous wrong”, Baron said.
Spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, told state TV: “He has been convicted, but I don’t have the verdict’s details”.
“Iran has behaved unconscionably throughout this case”, he said.
Rezaian got caught in the middle of a political struggle between Iranian hard-liners, who distrust the US, and those advocating for a relationship with the west, she said.
Jason Rezaian’s wife and the two photojournalists were later released, but Jason was still being held, with very little access to his family or lawyers.
Rezaian had been working for The Washington Post in Iran since 2012 before he was arrested in July 2014 and held for months without formal charges. His lawyer, Leila Ahsan, told the Times that while an appeal is possible, she can’t contest a judgment she hasn’t seen.
Ali Rezaian agreed with the sentiment, but said that more needs to be done to free his brother.
Iran does not recognise dual nationality for its citizens.
Rezaian’s incarceration and trial played out against the backdrop of negotiations between Iran and five world powers, including the USA, that resulted in an agreement for Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
But as social media users have pointed out, Rezaian was reporting on sanctions and the companies they affected…as any good reporter would.
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All three of these cases were raised once again on Monday in an article in the Los Angeles Times, alongside the case of Robert Levinson, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent who went missing in Iran in 2007. US government employees were held for 444 days during the Iran hostage crisis that began in 1979 when a group of Islamist students stormed the USA embassy in Tehran and kidnapped 52 Americans during the Iranian revolution. Press freedom advocates have condemned Iran’s handling of the case and called for his release.
