Iran to Hold Washington Post Reporter's Final Hearing Monday
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The trial session of the detained Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian will be held in Tehran this Monday, as his lawyer said it could be the final court session.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Saturday, Leila Ahsan said Rezaian’s next hearing will be held on August 10.
Ahsan had earlier told AFP that the case should go before the Appeals Court once the judge has delivered the verdict.
She did not give details but suggested that the case could have secondary proceedings.
Late in July, Ahsan had asked Iran to dismiss the charges against him, saying her client should be released from custody.
Speaking to Tasnim at the time, Ahsan said she has fully studied Rezaian’s case and has not found “any document or proof of the authenticity of the charges against my client.”
“Hence, it is expected that given the circumstances following the Vienna (nuclear) deal, Jason Rezaian’s acquittal verdict be announced as soon as possible,” she noted, making a reference to a agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program that Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) finalized in Vienna on July 14.
Rezaian, a 39-year-old correspondent with dual Iran-US citizenships, along with his wife Yeganeh Salehi were arrested in Tehran on July 22, 2014. Two other American citizens also detained along with them work as freelance photojournalists. Yeganeh Salehi was released on bail in October 2014.
Rezaian has been The Post’s correspondent in Tehran since 2012.
An indictment issued by Tehran’s prosecutor general says Rezaian is charged with “espionage by collecting the country’s decisions on the issues of internal and foreign policy, and cooperation with the hostile governments.”
