CPJ board urges Iran’s leaders to intervene in case of Jason Rezaian

July 20, 2015

Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani
Office of the Head of the Judiciary

Via the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran (info@daftar.org)

Your Excellency,

The Committee to Protect Journalists is dedicated to ensuring freedom of the press around the world. Today, our board of directors is writing you to urge immediate intervention in the case of our colleague, Jason Rezaian, on the one-year anniversary of his arrest. The correspondent for The Washington Post was arrested on July 22, 2014, and is being held in Evin Prison. If convicted of the charges against him, he could be sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison, according to the Post.

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Never before has an international journalist been held for so long in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our colleague has been denied any real opportunity to defend himself against the charges.

We urge you to ensure that this case is resolved immediately and that Jason returns home to his family.

Sincerely,

Sandra Mims Rowe
CPJ Chairman

Stephen J. Adler, Reuters

Andy Alexander

Christiane Amanpour, CNN International
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and Journalist Safety

Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Susan Chira, The New York Times

Sheila Coronel, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Josh Friedman, Carey Institute for Global Good

Anne Garrels

Cheryl Gould

Arianna Huffington, AOL Huffington Post Media Group

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

Gwen Ifill, PBS

Steven Isenberg

Jonathan Klein, Getty Images

Jane Kramer, The New Yorker

M’hamed Krichen, Al-Jazeera

Isaac Lee, Univision

Lara Logan, CBS News

Rebecca MacKinnon

David Marash

Kati Marton

Michael Massing

Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune

Norman Pearlstine, Time Inc.

Erwin Potts

Ahmed Rashid

David Remnick, The New Yorker

Alan Rusbridger

David Schlesinger

Paul Steiger, ProPublica

Paul Tash, Tampa Bay Times

Jacob Weisberg, The Slate Group

Matthew Winkler, Bloomberg News

CC:

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani

Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations