We are deeply concerned by the detention of journalists Jason Rezaian, his wife, and two others in Iran. NIAC reiterates its call for Iranian authorities to uphold their international human rights obligations. 

 

While few facts are known about this situation, the circumstances surrounding these detentions are troubling. Iran has one of the worst records in the world regarding detention of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Such detentions have been employed by Iranian authorities to achieve political objectives, as has been well documented by the United Nations and others. Human rights violations inside of Iran have escalated in the past year as some political factions have sought to undermine and discredit efforts improve Iran’s international relationships. The timing of these new detentions, coming just as nuclear negotiations opposed by some in Iran have been extended, adds further concern about this episode.

 

Rezaian, the Tehran correspondent for the Washington Post, is an Iranian American who holds dual citizenship and is one of the few American correspondents based in Iran. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in Tehran for the San Francisco Chronicle, Time, Foreign Policy, Slate and others, and produced a documentary about his experience in Iran as an Iranian American.