New York // US legislators on Tuesday called on Tehran to immediately free four Americans held or missing in Iran after poignant testimony from relatives who described “living a nightmare” with little news and fading hope.
Several members on the House foreign affairs committee and some family members of the detained Americans urged the US administration to halt nuclear talks with Iran until the four are freed, or to make any deal contingent on their release.
US officials have said they will not link the two issues, though they have raised the plight of the imprisoned Americans repeatedly on the sidelines of the talks.
As the committee voted on a bill to urge Iran to free the men, representative Randy Weber paid tribute to the families, saying they were “real people, with real lives in real pain”.
Among the four is the Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian, who spent 10 months in prison before going on trial last week on espionage charges. His Iranian wife, Yeganeh Salehi, a correspondent for The National, was arrested along with her husband and a female photojournalist. She was released on bail in October.
Jason's brother, Ali Rezaian, told The National that the trial could resume as soon as Saturday.
“We are hopeful that his lawyer is able to get some traction with the judge to move on to the next phase of the trial,” Mr Rezaian said on Tuesday.
The trial began after a short notice on May 26 but was adjourned after a two-hour session.
It is being conducted in a closed session of Branch 15 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court and presided over by a notorious conservative judge, Abolghassem Salavati, who has been sanctioned by the EU.
Rezaian’s lawyer, Leila Ahsan, has not legally been able to provide any details about the case or talk about the closed-door proceedings, but details have been leaked to the hardline Iranian press, including quotes attributed to the attorney and Rezaian “that were completely fabricated”, his brother said.
Rezaian, 39, is the Tehran bureau chief of the Washington Post, and faces charges of “espionage, collaboration with hostile governments, gathering classified information and disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic”, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.
His wife Yeganeh is also awaiting trial on lesser but related charges, Mr Rezaian said. Whether her case eventually goes to trial “is probably contingent upon the outcome of Jason’s charges,” he added.
“Sadly, Jason has now spent nearly half of their marriage in prison,” Mr Rezaian said.
Family members of three other US citizens imprisoned by Iran also testified before the committee.
Saeed Abedini, a pastor arrested in 2012, was sentenced to eight years in jail for gathering a group of people to study the Bible, charged with threatening national security.
Amir Hekmati, a former US marine, was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to death for alleged espionage after travelling to Iran to visit his grandmother.
Iran denies holding the third American, Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared while on Kish island in 2007.
The charges against Rezaian have been decried as fabricated and baseless by his family, the Post, the US government and human rights groups.
“Jason did sometimes write about Iran’s domestic and foreign policies, but this is perfectly legal conduct recognised around the world as practicing journalism,” Mr Rezaian said during his testimony. He added that he was more worried than ever about his brother’s health, which has deteriorated during long stretches of solitary confinement.
“It’s time for Jason to come home. It’s time for the families here to all be reunited,” Mr Rezaian said. “Releasing Jason is the humane thing to do and it is the right thing to do.”
Mr Rezaian told the committee he believed that linking the release of the prisoners with the nuclear deal would be dangerous for them.
The families of the other prisoners called for their relatives to be released before a deal is struck, fearing that the US will lose any leverage after the negotiations, regardless of their outcome.
tkhan@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting from Agence France-Presse
