End of Washington Post Reporter’s Trial Yet to Be Announced: Iranian Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Iranian judiciary official on Sunday said that the verdict of Washington Post’s detained journalist Jason Rezaian has not been issued yet, and it is not still announced that the previous court session was the last one.
The court proceedings have not been announced to be terminated yet, Director General of the Judiciary Office of Tehran Province Gholam Hossein Esmaeili told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony in the Iranian capital.
He further noted that “the verdict of this case has yet to be issued,” adding that the judge will decide on the time to issue the verdict for Rezaian, who is in detention on espionage charges.
His remarks came one week after Rezaian’s lawyer Leila Ahsan told the Tasnim News Agency that the last hearing in the trial of her client had been held behind closed doors and the verdict would be issued in a week.
“Today’s session was the last hearing,” Ahsan said at the time, adding that the court heard her client’s final defense.
According to law, the verdict for the case should be announced within a week, she noted.
The first court session had been held on May 26, the second on June 7, and the third on July 13, when Rezaian and two other suspects stood trial.
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.”
