Fresh Calls for Justice Minister to Broadcast Rezaian’s Confession

October 6, 2015

2 min read

Fresh Calls for Justice Minister to Broadcast Rezaian’s Confession

A group of Iranian MPs have urged Iran’s Justice Minister to release details of Jason Rezaian’s case to the public and to broadcast his so-called “confessions” on public television.

The Iranian-American Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian has been held in Evin Prison since July last year. He is charged with espionage and three other serious offenses.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have accused him of hatching an elaborate espionage operation on behalf of the United States. In September 2014, they reportedly forced Rezaian to confess to charges against him.

In a statement on Monday, October 5, 11 members of the Iranian Parliament asked Iran’s Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi to release comprehensive information about Rezaian and his spying operations in Iran, and to broadcast his confession.

“It is for over one year now that the professional spy who ran the US intelligence center in Tehran has been arrested; Jason Rezaian has been supported by the US during his detention and they have repeatedly asked our (nuclear) negotiating team to release him alleging that he is a journalist," the statement said.

The statement follows comments made by parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Nozar Shafiyee. He told Fars News Agency on Sunday, October 4 that intelligence officials from the Revolutionary Guards had discovered that Rezaian had worked with the United States government on a plot to topple the Iranian regime. According to Shafiyee, Rezaian was given the "duty" of carrying out US Senate plans to "revive its pre-Revolution relations with Iran" and overthrow the government.

It’s not the first time Iranian MPs have called for Rezaian’s case to be made available to the public. In February, Tehran MP Hamid Resaee urged official Iranian media to broadcast Rezaian’s confession. “Even though he published quite positive reports for the Washington Post, that was not his main objective,” Resaee said. “His goal was to place pressure on our country’s industries. I cannot reveal more at this stage.”