The Post’s executive editor, Martin Baron, called the guilty verdict “an outrageous injustice”.
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The Obama administration came under strong criticism for not linking their fate to the Iran nuclear deal, although it said officials raised the matter frequently on the sidelines of the nuclear talks. Rezaian’s brother, Ali, said in a statement Monday that the family was unable to determine the status of his case. He reportedly faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
On Monday, Rezaian’s brother, Ali, a Mill Valley biotech consultant who has dedicated his life to securing the release of his imprisoned sibling, said his mother, his brother’s wife and Ahsan went to the court in Iran on Monday to seek clarification in the case, but were brushed off.
Jason Rezaian, who was arrested in July 2014, had 20 days to appeal the verdict, the Iranian news service ISNA said, citing an Iranian judiciary spokesman.
Baron said his newspaper is working with Rezaian’s family and attorney to file an immediate appeal and to obtain his release on bail before a final resolution is formalized. “Regardless of whether there has been a conviction or not, we continue to call for the government of Iran to drop all charges against Jason and release him immediately”. The Post and the reporter’s family point to the mystery surrounding his “belated and opaque” guilty verdict as proof of a sham trial.
“A court issued a warrant for his arrest for tweets that a Turkish prosecutor says insult Erdogan”, the AP reported.
Of course, 52 American hostages were held in captivity by Iran for 444 days at the American embassy in Tehran until the day Ronald Reagan was sworn into office.
“Jason is a victim – arrested without cause, held for months in isolation, without access to a lawyer, subjected to physical mistreatment and psychological abuse, and now convicted without basis”, Baron said.
Little more than two weeks later, a senior Iranian diplomat alluded to the possibility of swapping Rezaian for Iranian prisoners held in the US, though he dismissed such a trade as something that “is not on the agenda”.
When Iran’s repressive regime isn’t cheating arms inspectors or sponsoring terrorism, it’s choking anyone perceived as a threat within its borders.
Asked by reporters whether the U.S. would consider an exchange, USA secretary of state John Kerry said he had “yet to hear directly from the Iranians” on the idea. “The information Rezaian provided to Americans led to many businessmen and Iranian as well as global companies being placed under U.S. sanctions”.
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A watchdog group, the worldwide Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said Rezaian’s trial, which concluded in August, was a “judicial farce” and challenged Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to correct it. Robert Levinson, a private investigator, disappeared in Iran in 2007.
