On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015

Ali Rezaian, brother of Jason Rezaian, The Washington Post's Tehran Bureau Chief who was convicted in Iran, talks about the photo of his brother at a news conference earlier this summer. | AP Photo Reports: WaPo's Jason Rezaian convicted in Iran

Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, a dual citizen of the United States and Iran who has been jailed in Tehran for more than a year, has been convicted, Iranian state television has reported.

"The guilty verdict announced by Iran in the trial of The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian represents an outrageous injustice," Post executive editor Marty Baron said in a statement released Monday morning. "Iran has behaved unconscionably throughout this case, but never more so than with this indefensible decision by a Revolutionary Court to convict an innocent journalist of serious crimes after a proceeding that unfolded in secret, with no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing. For now, no sentence has been announced."

Douglas Jehl, the newspaper's foreign editor, said Monday that the Post believes that the White House "could do more" to help bring the reporter back to the United States. Rezaian, who was imprisoned on July 22, 2014, has now been held longer than the duration of the Iranian hostage crisis, which lasted 444 days.

"We think they could do more," he said in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I think it's important always that from the highest levels of the government, the United States make clear just how urgently it sees the fate of Americans like Jason."

On the State Department, Jehl said the newspaper is "really grateful that they've called public attention to this, that they've pressed Iran to act."

"We think at this moment, it's vital that they make clear to Iran's senior leaders that they expect them to do the right thing," he added.

Americans "can also make clear their outrage to this action," he said.

The full statement from Baron released Monday morning:

"The guilty verdict announced by Iran in the trial of The Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian represents an outrageous injustice.

"Iran has behaved unconscionably throughout this case, but never more so than with this indefensible decision by a Revolutionary Court to convict an innocent journalist of serious crimes after a proceeding that unfolded in secret, with no evidence whatsoever of any wrongdoing. For now, no sentence has been announced.

"We are working with Jason’s family and Iranian counsel to pursue an immediate appeal, and we expect Jason’s lawyer, Leila Ahsan, also to petition for Jason to be released on bail pending a final resolution of the case.

"The contemptible end to this ‘judicial process’ leaves Iran’s senior leaders with an obligation to right this grievous wrong. Jason is a victim — arrested without cause, held for months in isolation, without access to a lawyer, subjected to physical mistreatment and psychological abuse, and now convicted without basis. He has spent nearly 15 months locked up in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, more than three times as long than any other Western journalists.

"The only thing that has ever been clear about this case is Jason’s innocence. Any fair and just review would quickly overturn this unfounded verdict. Jason should be exonerated and released; he and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who has been out on bail, should both be granted, without delay, the full freedom that is their right."

