USA TODAY International Edition
It’s past time for Iran to free reporter
Wednesday marks the first anniversary of Jason Rezaian’s Iranian ordeal.
For a year, Rezaian has been imprisoned for the crime of practicing journalism in Iran.
The Washington Post correspondent, who has dual U. S. and Iranian citizenship, languished in jail for months before authorities revealed the charges against him. He was placed in isolation. He was denied medical care. Once charges were finally disclosed, he wasn’t even allowed to pick his own lawyer for his trial. And his case was assigned to a total hard- liner.
“It has been a horrible year,” his brother Ali told me. “We just want Jason out of there as soon as possible.”
Wednesday, in an effort to keep the spotlight on Rezaian’s plight, his brother Ali and Post executive editor Martin Baron planned to appear at the National Press Club in Washington to discuss the case.
“It’s important to talk about the fact that Jason has been held for a year, three times longer than any Western journalist has been held in Iran,” Ali Rezaian said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “It’s important to talk about Jason, to make sure everyone understands what’s going on, that this is how they treat people over there.”
And maybe, just maybe, the glare of publicity and the efforts of the Obama administration and the Post will at last make a difference.
In recent weeks, Jason’s trial on espionage charges has crept along in several hours of proceedings followed by weeks of recess. I’d say “at a snail’s pace,” but that would be unfair to snails.
Enough. It is time for Iran to drop this travesty and free Jason. You would hope the recently announced deal over nuclear weapons between the United States and Iran would help. But this is, after all, Iran. So who knows?
I asked Razaian what he thought the nuclear deal meant for his brother’s fate. “I’m not sure how it affects it, but I hope it affects it in a positive way,” Rezaian says. Keeping Jason in the slammer, he says, “is not good for Iran’s image abroad or for the deal in the United States.”
At least, he says, the marathon talks leading up to the agreement “gave the governments a chance to talk to each other face- to- face.” But at bottom, he says, Iran remains utterly “opaque.”
Last weekend, Baron said he hoped the Obama administration would “work harder” for Jason Rezaian’s release. Ali had only positive things to say about the government’s efforts. He says he’s glad President Obama and members of Congress have spoken out on Jason’s behalf. “The government has done what it is able to do,” he says. “They assure us that they are continuing to work for Jason’s release.”
Ali Rezaian makes clear he deeply appreciates the Post’s efforts on his brother’s behalf. Baron has been the public face of the Post’s campaign for Jason’s release. Rezaian also singles out foreign editor Doug Jehl and publisher Fred Ryan for praise.
Rezaian has pointed out the laughable nature of the alleged “evidence” against Jason: an American visa application for Jazon Rezaian’s wife, Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian and a journalist who was arrested with him, then released; and a letter offering to help the Obama administration improve relations between the United States and Iran.
Ali Rezaian, a technology consultant who lives in Mill Valley, Calif., says the year has been brutal for the Rezaian family. “For my mom, it’s tough,” he says. She has gone to Iran three times, but authorities haven’t allowed her to attend the court proceedings.
As for Ali, “it has upended my work and my family life as well,” he says. It’s tough, he says, to answer questions from his 7- yearold as to when Jason will be free, when he has been arbitrarily jailed on trumped- up charges.
“Let alone what it is doing to Jason,” he says.
Jason is not alone. Two other Americans, former Marine Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, are also held by the Iranians.
“We are not going to relent until we bring home our Americans who are unjustly detained in Iran,” Obama declared Tuesday.
It’s way past time for Iran to relent and set them free.
“Jason has been held for a year, three times longer than any Western journalist has been held in Iran.”
Ali Rezaian, captive’s brother