Jason Rezaian is Tired and Distressed

“He is very tired and very distressed” is how Jason Rezaian’s mother, Mary Rezaian, described her journalist son’s condition who yesterday attended the second session of his closed trial. The Washington Post reporter has been in custody for over 11 months now facing very serious charges of espionage for “an enemy country.” In a related news, Arash Azizi, the son of writer and TV producer Mostafa Azizi, told Rooz that his father had received an 8-year prison sentence, and added that he expects the appellate court to reduce the sentence.

Jason’s mother has been in Iran for about a month now to see her son and be at his court sessions. She told the AP that she had seen her son twice in court. The specific language defining the charges against Mr. Rezaian are “espionage through the collection of state decisions about domestic and foreign policies and cooperation with hostile states.” These charges have been dismissed by his family members, his employer Washington Post officials and US government authorities.

But details of the court proceedings are not public because the trial is held behind closed sessions and Mohseni Ejei, deputy and spokesman of Iran’s judiciary, has banned the publication of any news about the trial. Iran’s Mehr news agency had reported earlier that Mr. Rezaian had been accused of writing a letter to President Barack Obama in which he had said that he was in contact with a wide range of people in Iran that included simple workers and influential clerics. The chief editor of the Washington Post has denied this and contends that Rezaian has had no direct communications with the president of the United States.

Rezaian was arrested about 300 days ago along with his wife Yeganeh Salehi and two other unnamed journalists. Ms. Salehi was released three months later.