Post journo among 4 detained in Iran
Ankara, July 25: The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on the Iranian government to immediately release four detained journalists, three of whom it said had US- Iranian nationality.
Two of the detainees are Jason Rezaian, the Tehran correspondent for the Washington Post, and his wife Yeganeh Salehi, a correspondent for the United Arab Emiratesbased newspaper the Nation, the CPJ said in a statement.
Later, Tehran’s chief justice Gholamhossein Esmaili on Friday confirmed the arrest of the Post correspondent and his wife.
“We are now in the investigation phase. I think we will be able to provide more information after technical investigation and questioning,” Mr Esmaili said, without saying why the couple had been arrested.
“We call on Iranian authorities to immediately explain why Jason Rezaian, Yeganeh Salehi, and two other journalists have been detained, and we call for their immediate release,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Programme coordinator Sherif Mansour.
“Iran has a dismal record with regard to its treatment of imprisoned journalists. We hold the Iranian government responsible for the safety of these four.”
Mr Rezaian, 38, has dual US- Iranian nationality and has worked for the Post in Tehran since 2012.