Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian speaks in the newspaper's offices in Washington, DC in a November 6, 2013 file photo provided by The Washington Post. PHOTO: REUTERS
"Serving a jail term is in Jason Rezaian's sentence but I cannot give details," IRNA quoted the spokesperson, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, as telling journalists during a weekly news conference in Tehran.
Iran court holds second hearing in espionage trial of Washington Post journalist
On October 11, Ejei said Rezaian, the paper's Tehran bureau chief who has both US and Iranian citizenship, had been convicted, without giving any details. He said then that Rezaian had 20 days to appeal against the verdict. Rezaian, who was arrested in July 2014, had been accused of espionage. The Post and his family denounced the charges against Rezaian as absurd.
Obama, relatives and rights groups have called for Rezaian’s release and for more information about the charges. Rezaian’s brother Ali told Reuters Television in May that his brother, the Post’s Tehran bureau chief, had lost 40 pounds (18 kg) in prison.
Washington Post reporter on trial in Iran for spying
Rezaian’s wife, who worked for the English-language newspaper The National based in Abu Dhabi, was arrested along with him but released on bail after spending two and a half months in custody.
Rezaian, 39, is accused of “espionage, collaboration with hostile governments, gathering classified information and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic republic”, according to his lawyer Leila Ahsan.
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