Iran Revolutionary Court Holds Secret Hearing in Rezaian’s Trial

An Iranian revolutionary court convened the second secret hearing on Monday in the trial of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent. Rezaian has been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison for nearly a year. Rezaian, 39, is a California native who holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and Iran. He was arrested on charges of espionage and propaganda against the Islamic Republic. The Washington Post readers who have followed Rezaian’s reports from Tehran can testify to the bogus nature of the charge that he was engaged in anti-Iran propaganda. “Espionage” has been another convenient, all-encompassing charge against foreigners or Iranians of dual citizenship who have been detained for any number of reasons, usually political in nature.

File photo: Washington Post Correspondent Jason Rezaian (Washington Post)

Rezaian, Washington Post Journalist, Faces Spy Trial

Jason Rezaian, the Iranian-American correspondent for the Washington Post in Tehran, today was charged with espionage and collaboration with “hostile governments,” and will face a so-called trial in a revolutionary court. The Washington Post branded the decision to charge Rezaian absurd.

The 39-year old journalist has been held for 9 months in solidarity confinement in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. The charges against Rezaian reportedly include espionage, gathering classified information, and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic.

Rezaian’s lawyer, Leila Ashan, said the file against her client contains “no jurifiable proof,” and that she has seen no legal reason to continue his detention.

“(Rezaian) is a journalist and the nature of his work to have access to information and to publish it,” Ashan said. “He had no access to confidential information, directly or indirectly.”  (AFP, 20 April)

“The grave charges against Rezaian that Iran has now disclosed could not be more lucicrous,” said Washington Post’s executive editor Martin Baron. “It’s absurd and despicable to asset, as Iran’s judiciary is now claiming, that Jason’s work first as freelance reporter and then as The Post’s Tehran correspondence amounted to espionage.”

File photo: Jason Rezaian (AFP)

Rezaian Charged

Iran said today that Iranian-American journalist, Jason Rezaian, has been charged after appearing in the court on Saturday. The Iranian Judiciary did not disclose the nature of the charges against him. Rezaian, the Washington Post’s bureau chief in Tehran, has been held in the notorious Evin prison for more than four months. (AP, 6 December)

Iran Extends Detention of Jason Rezaian Without Charge

Human Rights Watch reported today that Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian’s detention has been extended for another two months. Sarah Lee Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch expressed concerns over the case:

“If [Iranian] authorities had evidence that Rezaian had committed a real crime, they should have charged him shortly after his arrest. At this point, they should simply release him.”

To read Human Rights Watch’s memorandum, please click here.

File photo: Washington Post’s Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian, held 4 months without being charges. His detention was extended for another two months. (Twitter)

Iranian Journalist, Yeganeh Salehi, Released from Prison

The Iranian journalist Yeganeh Salehi has been released from prison. She was released on bail late last week, but the announcement of her release came today. Her husband, Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent in Tehran, remains in jail. They were detained on 22 July by Iranian authorities and held without charge. Salehi is Tehran correspondent for the UAE newspaper, The National.

File photo: Yeganeh Salehi and Jason Rezaian in a photo before their detention in Tehran (Washington Post/EPA)

Locked Up in Karaj

Spotlight on Political Prisoners in One Iranian City

Several dozen prisoners held in Karaj, west of Tehran, are serving prison terms for exercising their basic rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Iranian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

HRW’s 59-page report, “Locked Up in Karaj: Spotlight on Political Prisoners in One City,” is based on a review of 189 cases in three prisons in the city of Karaj, including the charges they faced, details of their trials before revolutionary courts, and information from lawyers, prisoners’ families, and others. Human Rights Watch concluded that in 63 of these cases, authorities had arrested the prisoners, and revolutionary courts had convicted and sentenced them, solely because they exercised fundamental rights such as free speech and rights to peaceful assembly or association.

“The election of a new, avowedly moderate president a year ago raised hopes that many of Iran’s political prisoners would soon walk free, but many remain behind bars,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The lion’s share of responsibility for releasing these prisoners rests with the judiciary, but President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet should be doing more to press for their release.”

To read HRW’s report on political prisoners in Karaj, please click here.

Photo credit: Clockwise from top left: Loghman Moradian, Zaniar Moradian, Kourosh Ziari, Masoud Bastani, Mohammad Ali (Pirouz) Mansouri, Saeed Rezaei. (HRW/© Private)

CPJ: Iran Must Explain Journalist Arrests

State Department Calls for Immediate Release of Rezaian

New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today called on the Iranian government to explain why the Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian and The National's Yeganeh Salehi, Rezaian’s wife, were arrested, and who has detained them.

It has now been six days since Rezaian and Salehi were detained. Reporters Without Border says an unnamed freelance photojournalist along with her non-journalist husband was also detained.

So far the only official confirmation of the arrests came from Qolam Hossein Esmaili, the head of the Justice Department in Tehran Province, who told the state-run news agency IRNA on Friday that the judiciary would provide information on the arrests after the completion of “technical investigations.”

In April, the very same Esmaili was removed from his previous post as head of Iran's state prisons after dozens of detainees in Evin prison, including at least seven journalists, were severely beaten during a raid. He is now promoted to the position of Tehran's prosecutor general, and has ordered the arrests of Rezaian and his colleagues.

CPJ said it holds the entire government in Iran responsible for the well being of all imprisoned journalists.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department today urged Iran to release Rezaian. Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said Washington had asked the Swiss government, which is in charge of U.S. interest section in Iran, for assistance in resolving the issue of Rezaian’s detention.

“We call on the Iranian government to immediately release Mr. Rezaian and the other three individuals,” Psaki said Monday afternoon during a State Department news briefing. (Washington Post, 28 July)

The Washington Post’s executive editor, Martin Baron, said last week that the newspaper was “mystified” and “deeply concerned” by the arrest.

Rezaian, 38, who holds American and Iranian citizenship, has been The Post’s correspondent in Tehran since 2012. His wife, Yeganeh Salehi, 30, is a correspondent for UAE-based National newspaper.

To read today's Washington Post editorial on Rezaian and his colleagues, please click here.

File photo: A recent picture of Jason Rezaian and His wife, Yeganeh Salehi. (Washington Post)

Fatemeh Hashemi Sentenced to Six-Month Suspended Jail Term

Tehran’s Revolutionary Court today sentenced Fatemeh Hashemi, 39, the daughter of the former president Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, to a six-month suspended jail term, IRNA reported today.

The revolutionary court’s Orwellian charge against her was “spreading lies about authorities.” The media reported that she had “spread lies” about Larijani brothers. The three brothers are the speaker of Majlis, the head of the Judiciary, and the head of government’s Human Rights Commission.

Faezeh Hashemi, another of Rafsanjani's daughters, was arrested and imprisoned in late 2012 for six months for “propaganda against the regime.”

File photo: Fatemeh Hashemi (IRNA)

Iran Arrests Pro-Reform Journalists

Iranian authorities have arrested the editor-in-chief and political editor of the independent Maghreb daily over an article the criticized the government and reportedly closed down three other news publications. The move is the latest assault on independent and reformist press by the Judiciary under direct supervision of the hardliner Judiciary chief Hojatoleslam Sadeq Larijani. Editor-in-Chief Mohammad Mehdi Emami Nasseri and political editor Ali Reza Aghaeirad were transferred to the notorious Evin prison.

16 Iranian Journalists Still in Prison

16 Iranian journalists were arrested more than two weeks ago. They remain in the notorious Evin prison. Iranian authorities are ignoring the worldwide requests to release these journalists. It seems that the June’s presidential election is too important for the Judiciary chief to let these independent journalists continue their reporting of what they see in the country.

Photo: The faces of the 16 detained journalists and their names (in Farsi)