Freed Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, left, speaks with Secretary of State John Kerry, during an opening ceremony for the new headquarters of The Washington Post on January 28. | AP Photo Reporter Jason Rezaian sues Iranian government

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and his family filed suit against the Iranian government Monday for treatment to which he and his wife were subjected during their imprisonment in Iran.

The suit, which was brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, alleges that Rezaian and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, were subjected to “unlawful acts of terrorism, torture, hostage taking and other torts” related to their arrest and imprisonment. According to the suit, which was first reported by The Washington Post, Rezaian was “subjected … to torture and other cruel treatment” during the 18 months he spent in an Iranian prison in 2014 through 2016. The family is asking for an unspecified sum for the “irreparable harm” caused throughout the ordeal.

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Rezaian was released earlier this year along with four other U.S. citizens the same day the Iran nuclear deal was implemented. His arrest, closed-door trial and prolonged imprisonment was largely considered to be politically motivated, and The Washington Post had aggressively fought for his release. The suit claims that Rezaian’s imprisonment was an attempt by Tehran to gain leverage in the negotiations that produced the nuclear agreement.

Rezaian, his mother, Mary Rezaian, and his brother, Ali Rezaian, are named as the plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The suit for the first time details the harsh treatment Rezaian and Salehi were subjected to during their imprisonment.

“For 544 terrifying days – from July 22, 2014, to January 16, 2016 – IRGC and other Iranian agents tortured and tormented Jason using a cruel combination of harsh physical mistreatment and extreme psychological abuse,” the suit, which can be read in full here, alleges. “They held him in prolonged solitary confinement, deprived him of sleep, aggressively and relentlessly interrogated him, denied him basic medical treatment for serious and painful illnesses and infections, and threatened him with dismemberment, execution, and other forms of cruel and unusual physical torture.”

The suit also alleges Salehi faced similar brutal treatment during the two months she was imprisoned, and that interrogators told her that Rezaian would be brutally harmed or killed if she did not incriminate him.

The suit alleges that due to the actions of the Iranian government, she and Rezaian’s mother and brother suffered “extreme psychological trauma” during Rezaian’s imprisonment. Salehi, Rezaian and his brother, Ali Rezaian, all contemplated suicide due to the treatment to which they were subject, the suit alleges.

“Plaintiffs’ pain, anguish, and anxiety are likely to persist for years to come,” the suit reads.

Rezaian is on an extended leave of absence from The Washington Post to serve as a Nieman fellow at Harvard University.

