Mary Rezaian, Jason Rezaian's mother, has expressed hope that her son will soon be acquitted and released.
“Jason was a journalist and the news was his job,” Mary Rezaian told the Iranian media. “His news sources were the same as any journalist’s.”
The fourth and, most likely, final court hearing for Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, was held on Monday, August 10 at branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, more than a year after he was first imprisoned.
The session lasted just an hour and a half, ending at 12:30pm, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency.
“This is going to be the last session,” says Leila Ahsan, Jason Rezaian’s lawyer. “And there will be a verdict within a week." Ahsan said she was able to defend her client during the session and submitted new defence on her client's behalf.
Mary Rezaian was adamant that there was no evidence to back up the allegations that Jason was spying on Iran. “If such evidence existed, why hasn’t the court shown it?”
She added: “My daughter in law and I were outside the court but we didn’t get to see Jason.”
Jason Rezaian, 40, is an Iranian-American journalist who had been working in Tehran at the time of his arrest on July 22, 2014. His wife, also a reporter, was arrested at the same time but released on bail, while he remained in custody.
Jason Rezaian has been charged with “spying through collecting information about Iran’s internal and external decisions and passing them on undesirable people." Other charges against hi include “accessing classified information, collaborating with foreign governments, writing letters to President Obama and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
His case was referred to Judge Abolghassem Salavati of the Revolutionary Court and the hearing’s first session was held on May 26, 2015.
Read the original article in Persian
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