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Society & Culture

Podcast: In the Court of the ''Judge of Death'' (script)

May 22, 2015
IranWire
8 min read
Podcast: In the Court of the ''Judge of Death'' (script)
Podcast: In the Court of the ''Judge of Death'' (script)

You’re listening to Iran’s Weekly Wire; I’m Roland Elliott Brown.

*

The Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian once said reporting in Iran was like walking a tightrope: when you fall down, it’s over.

When he moved to Iran in 2012, he understood the risks of being a journalist there. But he can’t have imagined he would become the longest-imprisoned foreign journalist in the history of the Islamic Republic.

Last July, security forces arrested him. They didn’t bother to charge him with anything till April.

This week, he appeared before a closed court in Tehran to face espionage charges.

Everyone watching his case is struggling to understand what he’s up against. But authorities are keeping quiet.

I spoke to Douglas Jehl, the Washington Post’s foreign editor, about the case. I asked him if Rezaian’s first court date had made anything clearer.

[Douglas Jehl] I think it has become less clear, not more clear. What has become clear, I suppose, is that Iran is not willing to present its charges against Jason in the light of day. We had hoped it would do so, we had hoped the trial would be a moment that would allow the world to scrutinise these charges and give Jason an opportunity to clear his name. What we have seen instead is the trial has proceeded behind closed doors with strict rules about what can be disclosed, is that Iran is going to continue to try this case in a black box.

Iran’s security agents have kept Rezaian in isolation for long stretches, and denied him medical care. Last year, an Iranian security official told IranWire that Rezaian gave a confession in prison.

But this week Iran’s Mehr News reported that Rezaian told the court, “I am only a reporter. All my actions have been as a reporter and they have been legal.”

That’s about as much as anyone knows.

Rezaian’s mother flew to Iran from California to attend the trial, but wasn’t allowed into the courtroom.

Neither was his wife, Yeganeh Salehi. She and Rezaian were arrested together, but she was released last October.

Iranian officials would probably say the case is secret because it’s a spying case.

Iran’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Marzieh Afkham, has tried to warn people off what she calls “premature judgment and speculation.”

But Iran treats journalists like spies all the time. Here’s Jason Stern from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

[Jason Stern] It’s completely run of the mill for Iran. You look at the charges, espionage charges, that's what they've traditionally used to imprison journalists, you look at the opaque judicial process, the denial of proper access to legal council, the flimsy evidence, the trumped-up charges, all this is completely run of the mill for Iran.

Right now there are approximately 30 journalists in jail, and so when we look at all the attention Jason's receiving, we shouldn't forget that there are about 30 other journalists who are also in jail in similar situations to him right now as we speak in Iran.

So why this focus on espionage? It’s tempting to think of Iran’s security agents as paranoid. But it’s better to think of them as cynical and self serving. Here’s why:

In theory, even Iran’s constitution should prevent journalists from being tried in secret.

Article 168 says, “Political and press offenses will be tried openly and in the presence of a jury, in courts of justice.”

But in practice, there’s nothing to stop security forces from cheating the constitution. They can simply accuse journalists of threatening national security. And security cases go to secret, revolutionary courts.

These courts date back to the revolution of 1979. Islamic revolutionaries used them to crush perceived enemies. In the 1980s, their judges executed thousands of Iranians.

And they are still used against perceived enemies of the state. Here’s Douglas Jehl again:

[Douglas Jehl] It's clear that revolutionary courts have been used frequently in cases to try foreign journalists and others, and to impose some significant sentences against them. What we've seen has shown a consistent record of unfairness, injustice, and a willingness to violate even Iran's own rules. Under Iran's rules the charges against Jason should have been made clear much more quickly after he was detained. Once those charges were presented, Iran's rules would have called for the case to be    assigned to a judge in fairly short order. That didn't happen. They should also have allowed Jason to engage an attorney quickly. That didn't happen.

Iranians who have gone through the courts tell stories of hostile and prejudiced judges who disregard defendants’ rights.

This week IranWire spoke to several people who have experienced these courts. They don’t want to be identified, so they’re voiced here by an actor.

Here’s an account from someone who faced the court for protesting in 2009.

[Anonymous 1] My lawyer and I went to the court. When [the judge] opened my file he started swearing at me. I was so surprised that at first I thought he was talking to someone else. I turned, looked behind me and then asked, “Are you talking to me?” I could not believe that they would throw obscenities in court.

And here’s another account from the same time period.

[Anonymous 2]  Like many others, I was deprived of a lawyer. My lawyer could not come to the court and advised me to ask the judge for a delay so he could review my case. But [he] would not hear of that. He shouted, “when you are out of here go and get yourself as many lawyers as your heart desires!”

These cases were minor compared to Rezaian’s. But they give a picture of what he might face.

They also show why Iran would o not want the world media to see how revolutionary justice works.

Nor would Iran want the world to get a close look at the judge it has assigned to Rezaian’s case.

Judge Abolghasem Salavati is one of Iran’s most notorious hanging judges. He’s been nicknamed “The Judge of Death”.

In 2009, he sentenced a 20 year old student to hang for throwing three stones during a protest.

Last year he sentenced a 37 year old man to death for heresy because he presented an alternative reading of the story of Jonah and the Whale.

I asked Douglas Jehl what he had learned about Judge Salavati.

[Douglas Jehl] he has a record of imposing harsh sentences, harsh enough to attract the attention of the European Union, which has sanctioned him as a violator of human rights.  That record doesn't give us any sense of great confidence, in fact it's quite alarming, and unnerving.

IranWire spoke to someone who faced Judge Salavati in the courtroom. She described a  threatening man who with wasn’t the least bit interested in the details of her defence.

[Anonymous 3] He talked about why I had painted a black picture and other things. I said I had not committed propaganda against the regime. He produced some printouts which the interrogator had attached to the case file and said “You wrote for Rooz Online and you say it is not propaganda? In is a counter-revolutionary site.” And I said  “I did not write it for Rooz Online. It was published by the newspaper and Rooz Online took it from the newspaper and put it on its site. It even identifies the source.” But I don’t think he noticed what I was talking about.

So far, so frightening. In theory Judge Salavati could sentence Rezaian to up to 20 years in prison. But this is not a likely outcome.

It’s important to consider the cold cynicism involved in cases like Rezaian’s.

He isn’t the first American to face the revolutionary court. Two other Iranian-Americans, Amir Hekmati and Saeed Abedini, have passed through it recently. They are both in prison right now.

In 2011, the revolutionary court convicted three American hikers of spying. But Iran released them later the same year in a supposed display of generosity.

And Iran has been imprisoning Americans for political purposes ever since 1979.

I asked Douglas Jehl if he thought Iran’s judiciary was acting independently in Rezaian’s case:

[Douglas Jehl] It's impossible to know what's in the minds of those who have brought charges against Jason and are responsible for his detention and trial. We'd like to take Iranian officials at their word that the judiciary operates independently and beyond political pressure, but I've got to say that the secrecy and slow pace and the general timetable with which this has proceeded do raise suspicions that it is connected in some way to the ongoing nuclear talks, and that those responsible for holding Jason believe that they have something to gain by keeping him in custody without any verdict in hopes that it might bring them leverage in the talks that are underway.

There has also been speculation that Iran wants to swap Americans in its prisons for unnamed Iranians held in the US.

In any case, Rezaian’s friends and colleagues know what they hope to see.

[Douglas Jehl] We'd certainly like to see the charges be dropped with public recognition that there is no basis whatsoever for these charges against him. If that didn't happen, I think we could hold out some hope that even after a trial, good sense might prevail, and we might see Iranian officials agree to release Jason on bail or with credit for time served along the pattern we've seen in previous cases. I don’t think we really care so much about how it happens. What we need to see is Jason released and his name cleared of these absurd and preposterous charges.

Whatever happens to Rezaian now, he has fallen off the tightrope. The people who really run Iran have   his life and his career, and traumatized his family.

And even if he is released, there is no sign that life will get easier for Iranian journalists.

So the big question is, who wants to walk the tightrope next?

*

That’s all from Iran’s Weekly Wire. If you want to find out more about this story, join us on Twitter or Facebook, or visit IranWire.com.

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