Washington DC -The Washington Post filed an urgent petition on Wednesday with the UN calling for the release of its Correspondent, Jason Rezaian jailed in Tehran.
Washington Post’s Executive Editor Marty Baron said this in a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington on the anniversary of his arrest in Iran.
Report says the reporter faces 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted in Iran on charges of espionage and anti-government propaganda.
“Every aspect of this case, his incarceration, his trial and the conditions of his imprisonment has been a disgraceful violation of human rights. It also violates common decency’’, Baron said.
Rezaian’s supporters say there is no available evidence against him.
“Release Jason to his family, he is like family to us,’’ National Press Club President John Hughes said, noting that as a Post reporter, Jason is part of the Washington journalism community.
Washington Post general counsel Jay Kennedy said Rezaian has been denied due process, with Iranian authorities failing to inform the prisoner of the charges against him, waiting 10 months to bring him to trial.
Rezaian’s brother, Ali, said Iranian nuclear talks, which had been ongoing throughout Jason Rezaian’s detention, had given the family hope that his release was imminent.
Since the July 14 final agreement on the nuclear issues, the family has become desperate.
“In this past year my family has watched these on-and-off negotiations drag on.
“We have awaited each deadline hoping that they can provide an opportunity for the Iranians to end this political and inhumane detention of my brother’’, Ali Rezaian said.
He called on Iran to follow its own laws and international norms and release his brother as soon as possible.
“We have watched Iran ignore their own laws and demonstrate they are not a nation of laws, as they so disingenuously claim to be’’, he said. (dpa/NAN)
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