Iran told to pay Post writer $180 million

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Friday ordered the government of Iran to pay Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian and his family $180 million in damages for his 18-month detention during U.S.-Iran nuclear talks in 2014, saying it was justified to defer future taking of American hostages.

Rezaian, then The Post’s Tehran-based correspondent, was seized on July 22, 2014. He and his newlywed wife were arrested, placed separately in solitary confinement, and threatened with execution, physical mutilation and dismemberment, his family testified in federal court in Washington earlier this year. His wife was detained for two months.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington entered a default judgment against Iran, which by its custom did not answer the lawsuit, after a multiday evidentiary hearing in January.

The court ordered Iran to pay Rezaian $23.8 million in compensatory damages for pain and suffering and economic losses; his brother, Ali, $2.7 million and their mother, Mary, $3.1 million for similar claims; and the family $150 million in punitive damages.

“Holding a man hostage and torturing him to gain leverage in negotiations with the United States is outrageous, deserving of punishment, and surely in need of deterrence,” Leon wrote in a 30-page opinion.

Rezaian was released with two other Americans in a prisoner swap completed Jan. 16, 2016, the day the nuclear pact was implemented.

Rezaian