New Hearing for Jason Rezaian Held in Iran

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/world/middleeast/new-hearing-for-jason-rezaian-held-in-iran.html

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The third hearing in the espionage trial of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post correspondent who has been imprisoned in Iran for nearly a year, will be held on Monday in Tehran, Mr. Rezaian’s brother said on Sunday night.

In an emailed message, Ali Rezaian said the Iranian defense lawyer for his brother had been recently informed of the hearing date. The lawyer, Leila Ahsan, has been prohibited from discussing the proceedings, and the trial is closed to the public.

“Jason’s continued detention is as baseless as it is cruel and unjust,” Ali Rezaian said in the message. “We ask the Iranian judiciary to put an end to the delays in his trial, release Jason and allow him to reunite with his family.”

Mr. Rezaian, 39, is one of at least three Americans in Iranian prisons, an issue repeatedly raised by American negotiators in nuclear talks with Iran, though there has been no indication that it would be part of any deal.

Mr. Rezaian’s mother, Mary, who lives in Turkey, has been permitted to visit him a few times, but her effort to attend the trial has been rebuffed.

The Rezaian case has come to typify what critics of Iran have called its arbitrary and opaque judicial system. Mr. Rezaian was arrested July 22, 2014, and placed in solitary confinement for long periods. The judiciary did not disclose the nature of the charges against him for months, and restricted his access to legal counsel. Ms. Ahsan has said that the evidence she has seen does not support the charges against him.

The other Americans held in Iran include Amir Hekmati, 31, a Marine veteran from Flint, Mich., and Saeed Abedini, 34, a Christian cleric from Boise, Idaho.

A fourth American, Robert A. Levinson, 67, disappeared in Iran eight years ago. The Iranian authorities have said they have no information on his whereabouts.