Brother Urges Iran to Free Reporter Held on 'Laughable' Charges

Washington: The brother of a Washington Post reporter held for 10 months in an Iranian jail Tuesday called on Iran to release him, saying charges of spying laid against him were "laughable."

The family of Jason Rezaian was barred from attending the opening of his trial Tuesday in a Tehran revolutionary court, his brother Ali Rezaian told AFP.

"He and his lawyer were able to go into court, and my understanding is that the indictment against him was read to him, and the judge now is going to set a next day for the trial," Rezaian said.

Their mother, Mary, has been in Iran for the past two weeks and had been hoping up until the last minute to be able to attend the hearing.

"When they announced yesterday that the trial was being held in secret and closed that meant that my mother and his wife were not allowed to go to the trial," Rezaian said.

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Iran's official news agency IRNA said, however, that Rezaian's wife, Yeganeh Salehi, had appeared in court.

Rezaian's mother has been allowed to visit Jason once in Tehran's notorious Evin jail and to speak with him for four minutes in a separate phone call.

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"The isolation is really taking a toll," Ali Rezaian told AFP in an interview, describing his brother, who is a dual-national, as normally a very sociable person.

"Really he only interacts with the guards and the interrogators, who still come to talk to him on and off. It's very isolating."

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Jason Rezaian was held in solitary from July until December, when another person was moved into the cell with him.

But the family remains concerned about his health, saying he has some issues which are exacerbated by Tehran's pollution and the excessive summer heat.

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Rezaian is charged with espionage, propaganda, collaborating with hostile forces and a charge of working under "the devious disguise of a journalist."

"For over five months they interrogated him on almost a daily basis," Ali Rezaian said. "It took them that long to come up with these charges that are based on really nothing. When we've heard about what kind of evidence they have, it's laughable."

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"What kind of evidence do they have against him? I think the answer is not that much," he said.

"My mom did say, he's committed to proving his innocence and letting the entire world know that there's no basis for these charges and that he should be acquitted. That's a tough process."