‘Post’ editor slams Iran for conviction of U.S. reporter
Calls conviction of U.S. reporter an ‘outrageous injustice’
It’s unclear what Jason Rezaian was convicted of or sentence he faces.
The conviction of Washington
Post reporter Jason Rezaian, held in Iran for more than a year on espionage and other charges, is an “outrageous injustice” that will be immediately appealed, the newspaper’s executive editor said Monday.
“Iran has behaved unconscionably throughout this case, but never more so than with this indefensible decision by a Revolutionary Court to convict an innocent journalist of serious crimes after a proceeding that unfolded in secret, with no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing,” said Martin Baron, the Post executive editor, in a statement.
Iran judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi announced the verdict on state TV late Sunday but offered no details. It was not immediately clear what charges Rezaian was convicted of or what sentence he faces. Rezaian, an Iranian-American
Post correspondent in Tehran, was detained by the Iranian government, along with his wife and two others, on July 22, 2014. The 39-year old Californian, now held in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, has been in an Iranian jail longer than any other Western journalist on charges of espionage and other crimes.
His Iranian wife, journalist Yeganeh Salehi, and the others with him have been released.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said in recent weeks that freedom for Rezaian and two other Americans being held in Iran could be expedited if the U.S. would release Iranians being held here. The other Americans are Amir Hekmati, a former Marine sentenced to death in 2012 for espionage, and Saeed Abedini, a pastor detained in Iran in 2012 and sentenced to eight years in prison on charges of trying to undermine the government.
Rouhani wants the U.S. to free Iranians convicted of violating sanctions against Iran.