Verdict expected soon for journalist
Reporter has been held in Iran for more than a year
A verdict is expected within a week in the case of a Washington
Post journalist facing espionage charges in Iran after a final court hearing Monday, according to his lawyer.
Jason Rezaian, the Post’s correspondent in Tehran, has been detained for more than a year by Iranian authorities.
He has strongly denied allegations in the case, and the State Department and international media groups have called for his release.
Rezaian’s lawyer, Leila Ahsan, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying she expected a court decision “in a week.”
Ahsan told the AP she submitted a 20-page defense brief to the court, and Rezaian also spoke in his own defense.
She gave no other details and is barred from speaking with media outside Iran.
Martin Baron, the executive editor of the Post, said no evidence was presented against Rezaian in the “sham trial” in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court since the closed-door proceedings began in May.
Baron called for Iranian leaders to end the “nonsensical” prosecution and give back the “freedom and lives” to Rezaian and his Iranian wife, Yeganeh Salehi, a journalist for The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi who faces similar charges.
“After just four secret hearings in 10 weeks, the sham trial of The
Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian has ended in Tehran, but it remains unclear even to Jason’s lawyer what might happen next,” Baron said a statement.
Rezaian’s mother, Mary, who was outside the court with Salehi, told reporters her son was innocent, a victim of the hostility between Iran and the United States dating back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“He is paying the price of the suspicion, the animosity and the paranoia between the two countries,” she said.
Rezaian reportedly faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on charges that include espionage and distributing propaganda against Iran.