Tag Archives: Jason Rezaian

Bad Faith In Negotiations

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We seem to have totally missed the mark on our recent negotiations with Iran. We never asked Iran to release the American citizens they were holding hostage, Pastor Abedini for example. Now Iran has sentenced Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian to prison on charges of spying. Jason Rezaian is a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen.

Politico reported today that Tholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi, spokesman for Iran’s judiciary, announced that Rezaian has been sentenced to an unspecified prison term. An appeal is expected, and Ejehi described the verdict as “not finished.”

The article reports:

Rezaian, who has covered Iran for the Post since 2012, grew up in Marin County, California and spent most of his life in the United States. The Post, U.S. officials and Rezaian’s family have all called for his release. Iran does not recognize dual-nationality.

“By withholding information about the verdict and sentence, the Iranian government shows that its pursuit of Jason Rezaian on bogus espionage charges is nothing but a facade to prolong his unjust imprisonment,” said Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

“The authorities should immediately drop all charges against Jason Rezaian and release him, along with all journalists imprisoned in Iran in relation to their work,” he said.

The CPJ says 30 journalists were behind bars in Iran in 2014, making it the second worst jailer of reporters, after China.

We should not even be discussing the time of day with the government of Iran until they release the Americans they are currently holding in prison. We need to add economic sanctions on them until these people are returned home.

Why Are We Negotiating?

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Today’s Washington Post posted an article about Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian.

The article reports:

An Iranian court on Monday held a third hearing for a Washington Post journalist facing charges that include espionage in a trial that has drawn sharp criticism from press freedom groups and the State Department.

The attorney for Jason Rezaian, The Post’s bureau chief in Tehran, said the “remaining charges” were reviewed during the closed-door session in the Revolutionary Court.

But the lawyer, Leila Ahsan, could give no further details about the session. She is barred from publicly discussing the proceedings against Rezaian, who has been detained nearly a year.

Jason Rezaian held dual citizenship in Iran and the United States. He worked in Iran as a journalist.

The article further reports:

The Revolutionary Court held two sessions in Rezaian’s trial in May and June. The charges against him include espionage and distributing propaganda against the Islamic republic.

Rezaian, his Iranian wife and two photojournalists were detained July 22, 2014, in Tehran. His wife, Yeganeh Salehi, a correspondent for the National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, was later released on bail. A photojournalist also faces charges related to the case.

The claims against Rezaian, 39, appear to include a visit he made to a U.S. consulate seeking a visa for his wife and a letter he wrote seeking a job in the Obama administration in 2008 — material that was apparently taken from his confiscated laptop.

Jason Rezaian is not the only American citizen the Iranians currently have in prison. I truly believe that we should suspend all negotiations with Iran and leave the economic sanctions in place until these political and religious prisoners are released and sent back to America. I really don’t understand why we are continuing to negotiate with a country that puts American citizens in prison.

The Problem With Iran

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We have been negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program since 2013. Yahoo News posted a timeline of highlights in American-Iranian relations. During that time, most of what Iran has done is buy time to continue its nuclear program.

The article reports:

October 2013: Burns and Sullivan hold a fourth secret meeting with Iranian officials, and then a fifth, this time joined by chief U.S. negotiator Sherman. The framework nuclear deal hashed out in the early secret talks begins to gain clarity. A new round of larger nuclear talks with world powers is held in Geneva at which Sherman meets publicly with Zarif.

November 2013: World powers meet Iran again in Geneva. Burns and Sullivan are among the U.S. delegation but are not identified as such. They are kept hidden from public view, entering meeting rooms only after photographers and journalists are escorted out. They stay at a separate hotel from the main delegation and enter the talks through service entrances.

Nov. 23, 2013: Western powers and Iran reach initial deal on curbing Iran’s nuclear program.

Note that in 2013 the goal was to curb Iran’s nuclear program. That is not where we are today. We have forgotten our goal of never allowing Iran to go nuclear.

Michael Rubin posted an article at Commentary Magazine today about the current negotiations with Iran. In the article, he points out the fact that Iran is holding Americans hostage–even as we are negotiating about their nuclear program.

The article lists four hostages:

  • Saeed Abedini. Iran has long been hostile to Christianity. While the Iranian city of Isfahan hosts a large Armenian community which thrives today, the Armenian Christians settled in Isfahan only because they were forcibly relocated there from northwestern Iran as the shah at the time doubted their loyalty. Non-Orthodox Christians have special difficulty in Iran. Past State Department human-rights reports, for example, depict the disappearance and murder of priests and, especially, evangelical Christians whose community is small but growing in Iran. Abedini, a 34-year-old from Idaho, was arrested during a 2012 trip to Tehran to visit family and sentenced to eight years in prison. He is a married father of two small children.
  • Robert Levinson. A former FBI agent whom Iran alleges to have worked for a CIA contractor visited Kish Island, an Iranian free-trade zone which is visa-free, in an effort to research a cigarette smuggling case when he was seized by Iranian intelligence in 2007. While the Iranians have sought at times to deny responsibility or knowledge of Levinson’s case, the state-run Iranian press acknowledged Iranian involvement. He remains the longest-held Iranian hostage. Perhaps reflecting its role as the ­de facto lobby of the Islamic Republic, the National Iranian American Council has distinguished itself by omitting Levinson in its calls for the release of hostages.
  • Amir Hekmati. A former American Marine, Hekmati was arrested in August 2011 while visiting family in Tehran. Charged with espionage, he was initially sentenced to death, a sentence later commuted. While some Iranians might look askance at his military service, it should be remembered that because Iran has conscription, many male Iranian graduate students seeking to come to the United States to continue their education or to visit family have served in the Iranian military. The charges were more ridiculous considering Hekmati sought and received permission from Iranian authorities in the United States before traveling. Hekmati had briefly launched a hunger strike which he subsequently suspended.
  • Jason Rezaian. The Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief, Rezaian was arrested on undisclosed security-related offenses on July 22, 2014, and initially held incommunicado. On January 15, 2015, an Iranian prosecutor announced that Rezaian would stand trial in a revolutionary court. His case is slated to be heard by one of Iran’s most notorious hanging judges.

The article concludes:

When the State Department counsels quiet diplomacy, what diplomats are seeking is enough distraction to sweep the problem under the rug. They should not be able to. Indeed, there should not be another meeting held, let alone incentive given or payment made, until they are happily at home and reunited with their families. Quite the contrary, there should be no end to sanctions and punishment until the Americans—all four—come home.

We should not be negotiating nuclear arms with people who hold our citizens hostage. Until these hostages are released, we should tighten economic sanctions.

I Don’t Think The Negotiations Are Working

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On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that Jason Rezaian, an American citizen of Iranian descent from California, The Washington Post’s correspondent in Iran, who has been in prison in Iran since July, will be charged and tried in a Revolutionary Court.

On the same day, The Wall Street Journal posted the following:

Nice timing, brothers. Secretary of State John Kerry met Wednesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif to negotiate how much of Iran’s nuclear program it will be able to keep. Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, Iran’s state news agency reported that a court in Tehran had indicted Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who will stand trial on unspecified charges.

The New York Times reports:

Earlier in the day, Mr. Zarif, who knows Mr. Rezaian personally and has described him as “a fair reporter,” gave no hint of any movement in the case. “This is a judicial matter, so we will have to wait for the judiciary to move forward,” Mr. Zarif said. He repeated Iran’s contention that it regards Mr. Rezaian, as well as another imprisoned American citizen of Iranian descent, Amir Hekmati, as Iranian citizens who are subject to Iranian laws. Neither has been granted the diplomatic access afforded to foreign prisoners, and in Mr. Rezaian’s case, he has not been given access to a lawyer since his arrest.

I think it is time to place severe economic sanctions on Iran. They obviously have no respect for the American government and do not care how they treat American citizens. I think it is time to play hard ball. It is becoming very obvious that the trouble makers in today’s world have decided that they have nothing to fear from America’s current leadership. Franky, I would rather countries like Iran and Russia fear us than like us. Unfortunately, President Obama has caused them to do neither.