News Digest

Behind closed doors: Washington Post reporter’s spy trial opens in Iran

A Washington Post journalist has gone on trial for spying in Iran, the country’s ISNA news agency has said. Jason Rezaian, 39, (pictured) who is the paper’s Tehran correspondent, is being tried on espionage charges, the news agency reported. The hearing is taking place behind closed doors at a Revolutionary Court, often used to try security cases. His lawyer Leila Ahsan said he is accused of “espionage, collaboration with hostile governments, gathering classified information and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic republic”. Ms Ahsan has said there is “no justifiable proof” to substantiate the charges against him.

There is no justice in this system, not an ounce of it, and yet the fate of a good, innocent man hangs in the balance.

Washington Post executive editor Martin Baron

Mr Rezainan has been in detention for more than 10 months after being picked up with his wife Yeganeh Salehi and two photojournalists on July 22 last year. Ms Salehi and the photographers were later released but authorities continued to hold Mr Rezaian despite calls for his release by U.S. officials. The journalist was born and spent most of his life in the United States but holds both American and Iranian citizenship. The U.S. has had no diplomatic presence in Iran since the seizure and detention of many of its embassy staff following the Iranian revolution in 1979. Many in current Iranian regime have long supported the view that the CIA was involved in maintaining the last Shah, before he was deposed, so American firms could take advantage of the country’s oil supplies.