Iran says Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian convicted

The ruling is eligible for appeal within 20 days, Ejehi said.

Rezaian reportedly faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Martin Baron, the managing editor of The Washington Post, called the verdict, “an outrageous injustice” and “contemptible”.

“He is an innocent man that has been kept under harsh conditions to the detriment of his health and wellbeing for almost 450 days”, Mr Rezaian’s brother Ali said in a statement.

The Washington Post says it’s working with Rezaian’s family and legal counsel to appeal the verdict and push for his release on bail.

“He’s been subjected to physical mistreatment, psychological abuse, and it’s just hard to imagine someone having to endure all of that when he did absolutely nothing wrong”, said Baron (pictured above, right). “He has spent almost 15 months locked up in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, more than three times as long than any other Western journalists”.

The treatment and trial of Rezaian has drawn condemnation from his family, the U.S. government and press freedom groups as well as The Washington Post.

“Rezaian faced four charges – the most serious of which was espionage – and it was not immediately clear whether he was convicted of all charges”, the report noted. They were provided no further information under the guise of a translator not being available.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Tuesday the US government has not heard of Rezaian’s conviction “through official channels” and that there has been no formal announcement about it. He slammed the proceedings against Rezaian and other USA citizens detained in Iran as a “sham process”.

Leila Ahsan, Rezaian’s lawyer, was not reachable for comment on Monday.

Rezaian was detained with his wife, who is a journalist for The National newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, and two photojournalists on July 22, 2014. Salehi, also a journalist, has since been released, but Rezaian has remained in jail.

Monday’s conviction of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian by the Iranian government came as a devastating jolt for those who know the journalist with ties to Sonoma County.

“We urge the Obama Administration not to lift any economic sanctions until Iran vacates this absurd judgment and releases all four Americans wrongly imprisoned by Iran”. Last week it was reported that he had conspired with US senators to improve U.S.-Iranian relations, a development supposedly calculated to bring down the regime.

His incarceration and trial played out against the backdrop of negotiations between Iran and five world powers, including the USA, that resulted in an agreement for Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

In April, Rezaian’s lawyer said the indictment accused her client of espionage, “collaborating with hostile governments”, “propaganda against the establishment” and collecting classified information.

She said Rezaian was passionate about teaching Americans about his father’s homeland and Iranians about the United States, where his mother was born.

President Hassan Rouhani also raised that possibility last month, but Iran’s judiciary rejected the idea.