TEHRAN, Oct. 12 (UPI) — Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who has been jailed for more than a year in Iran, was found guilty in an internationally condemned espionage trial.
Tehran Revolutionary Court spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei confirmed on Iranian State TV late Sunday that the court reached a verdict. Rezaian faces up to 20 years in prison for the conviction.
Rezaian, 38, has been held in Iran’s Evin Prison since July 22 after security forces raided his home in Tehran. He and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, both journalists, were arrested but Salehi was released on bail.
The punishment Rezaian will receive has not been revealed, but The Washington Post reported the judge who handled the case is known to deliver harsh sentences.
Iran’s revolutionary courts are usually reserved for political cases or cases related to national security. Rezaian was born and raised in California and has dual U.S.-Iranian citizenship.
The guilty verdict in the trial, which ended about two months ago, is an “outrageous injustice,” Executive Editor of The Washington Post Martin Baron said in a statement.
“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,” Baron said.
Charges against Rezaian included conducting propaganda against the establishment, collaborating with hostile governments, and collecting information about internal and foreign policy and providing them to individuals with malicious intent.
