4/13/15, "Tehran to try Washington Post bureau chief on espionage charges," CNN, Ben Brumfield
"Jason Rezaian has sat in jail in Iran for nearly nine months. The Washington Post's bureau chief in Tehran was arrested in July on unspecified allegations. It took more than four months for a judge to hear charges against him.
They remained publicly undisclosed until last week.
The Iranian-American will be tried soon on espionage, Tehran's chief justice said. He is accused of economic spying, the Post reported, citing Iranian state media.
The
Washington Post did not mince words on the allegation. "Any charges of
that sort would be absurd, the product of fertile and twisted
imaginations," the paper said in a statement. The State Department also reacted with term "absurd" after hearing of reports in Iran's press about the charges.
"If
the reports are true, these charges are absurd, should be immediately
dismissed and Jason should be immediately freed so that he can return to
his family," the State Department official said.
An appeal from Muhammad Ali
Since
officers picked up Rezaian and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, on July 22 at
their home, the Post, the State Department and Rezaian's family have
protested and called for his release. Salehi was released on bail in
October.
Rezaian was denied bail. And for months, he was denied access to proper legal representation, his family has said.
Boxing
great Muhammad Ali, also an American Muslim, appealed to Tehran last
month to give Rezaian full access to legal representation and free him
on bail.
"To my knowledge, Jason is a
man of peace and great faith, a man whose dedication and respect for the
Iranian people is evident in his work," Ali said in a religiously worded statement.
Isolation, interrogation
The
journalist has also not been allowed to see visitors aside from his
wife and has endured long interrogations, family members have said.
In
December, after a 10-hour hearing, Rezaian signed a paper to
acknowledge that he understood the charges against him, the Post
reported.
Iran's human rights chief,
Mohammad Javad Larijani, told news outlet France 24 last year that he
hoped Rezaian's case would come to a positive conclusion. He said, "Let
us hope that this fiasco will end on good terms.""
.
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