Washington Post journalist held in Iran denied access to lawyer, says brother

The lawyer hired by the family of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent who has been incarcerated in Iran for nearly seven months on unspecified charges, has been prevented from formally representing his client, the journalist’s brother said on Wednesday.

Rezaian, a dual Iranian-American citizen from California, was imprisoned under dubious circumstances in July 2014, after security forces raided his home in Tehran. He was arrested at gunpoint along with his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who is also a journalist, and two American photojournalists. Only Jason remains in prison – Salehi was allowed out of jail on bail in October and warned to stop working.

Ali said the family hired a prominent defense attorney, Masoud Shafiei, to represent Rezaian , but said the lawyer has been unable to obtain the journalist’s signature, which is needed before Shafiei can officially represent him. Ali said the lawyer was prevented from dropping off the necessary paperwork on at least three separate occasions this week.

“At this point, we’re at nearly seven months and Jason still hasn’t had access to an attorney, which he should have had seven months ago,” Ali told the Guardian, speaking by phone from California. “But [the Iranian authorities] have spent the last seven months stacking the deck, and they just keep on doing it.”

Rezaian was formally charged in January, but the charges against him have still not been made public, Ali said. The trial is due to begin “soon” in Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which traditionally handles cases involving political and national security crimes.

Until the paperwork is signed, Shafiei is not allowed to defend the journalist, said Faraz Sanei, an Iran researcher with Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, which he called a “complete violation of his due process rights” under international law.

“Frankly, as soon as he was arrested, within a short amount of time, he should have been informed of the charges against him and then granted access to a lawyer,” Sanei said. “But unfortunately, it’s been seven months since he’s been in detention. He has certainly not been allowed access to a lawyer. It took them a long time to even allow him access to his family members, for them to be able to speak to him and visit him. These are all complete and utter violations of international law.”

Ali said his family believes defense attorneys are under pressure by authorities not to take up the journalist’s case. Rezaian’s previous attorney, Saleh Nikbakht, represented the journalist until last month, when Nikbakht claimed that for “certain reasons” he could no longer represent Rezaian.

“Myself and my mother want Mr Shafiei to be Jason’s attorney,” Ali said. “There is nobody else that we currently want to represent Jason. This is the guy and [the Iranian authorities] have been preventing him from signing up to be Jason’s attorney and that is completely illegal in these circumstances, no question about it.”

Shafiei has experience handling cases of national security. He previously helped win the release of two American hikers who were arrested along the Iran-Iraq border in July 2009 and imprisoned as spies in Tehran.

Iran’s security and intelligence apparatus is particularly suspicious of dual citizens. Rezaian has been treated solely as an Iranian, and has not been allowed consular access. Even so, Ali said, his brother should be allowed access to a lawyer under Iranian law.

“He’s very well aware that there is no case against him and that he’s been denied every right he’s supposed to have as an Iranian citizen in their court system,” Ali said.

He added that his brother is “deeply depressed”, and is suffering psychologically under the pressure of being detained despite being innocent of any wrongdoing.

Rezaian, who is being held at Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, was moved out of solitary confinement and into a cell with a roommate, Ali said. He was allowed frequent visits from his wife, but recently those have been cut significantly, and his family have called on officials to reinstate these. His brother has received some medical treatments for various infections he developed while in detention, though his family is still worried about the long-term effects.

The Washington Post’s executive editor, Martin Baron, called the denial of legal council “outrageous” and implored the Iranian authorities to allow Rezaian access to his lawyer immediately.

“Jason has now been incarcerated for nearly seven months without public disclosure of the charges against him, and he has endured harsh interrogation without access to legal counsel,” Baron said in a statement. “He should be permitted to meet at once with his lawyer. Iran’s handling of this case bears no resemblance to justice; it has been a sham and a tragic farce.”

Last week, Jason’s mother, Mary, said she feared new delays, as she called on the Iranian authorities to release her son or give him a fair trial.

Mary, who went to Tehran during the Christmas holiday and was eventually allowed to visit her son in prison, asserted in an op-ed published last week on CNN’s website that her son’s trial may be delayed until April, based on “rumblings” that his case wouldn’t be heard until after the Persian New Year, which falls on 21 March.

“Our family has been exceedingly patient during these seven months,” Mary wrote in the piece. “We have been respectful of Iran, of its laws and its procedures. But our patience ran out some time ago, and it is difficult, nearly impossible, to maintain respect for a system under which someone who was born and raised American is being detained ‘as an Iranian’ even as his rights under Iran’s own laws are being so flagrantly violated.”