Family of reporter jailed in Iran stepping up efforts

Next Thursday, friends and family of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter who has been jailed in Iran since July, will gather at the National Press Club in Washington to draw wider attention to Rezaian's plight.

Although the family has been active in advocating for Rezaian's release over the past seven months, the past few weeks have seen further challenges even as his case progresses through Iran's court system.

This week, Rezaian finally gained the right to an attorney – only it wasn't the one his family has been working with for months.

The hard-line judge assigned to Rezaian's case, Abolghassem Salavati, mandated that Rezaian's lawyer gain his approval to defend Rezaian in the country's Revolutionary Court in Tehran – a requirement illegal under Iranian law.

"This is another example of Iranians not following their own laws in Jason's case. Every step along the way, whether it's bail, whether it's access to a lawyer, whether it's the time of the trial, these all pointed to some kind of abnormality in this case that they don't want to make public," Rezaian's brother Ali Rezaian said. "The case against Jason is very weak and they want to prolong it as long as they can."

The lawyer the family wanted is Masoud Shafii, a well-known Iranian attorney who has previously represented Americans detained in the country. That's probably why the court prevented him from working on this case, Ali Rezaiain says.

"There was no reason given, just that the judge of the court would not allow him to," Ali Rezaian said. "In the past, Masoud has defended other Americans rigorously and publicly, and that's the only guess I can make – that that wasn't something that they wanted."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/03/05/jason-rezaian-washington-post-lawyer/24279745/