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| Washington Post Reporter Held in Iran Phoned Mother on Thanksgiving | Washington Post Reporter Held in Iran Phoned Mother on Thanksgiving |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The mother of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter imprisoned in Iran without explanation for nearly five months, said Monday that she received a surprise telephone call from her son on Thanksgiving in which he told her the authorities had instructed him to say he had been treated well. | The mother of Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter imprisoned in Iran without explanation for nearly five months, said Monday that she received a surprise telephone call from her son on Thanksgiving in which he told her the authorities had instructed him to say he had been treated well. |
| She also said that during the phone call, which she assumed had been monitored, Mr. Rezaian said he had been told to say that he was in a detention center, not a prison — an assertion she said she knew from other relatives to be inaccurate. | |
| It was the first — and so far the only — time that the mother, Mary Rezaian, had spoken to Mr. Rezaian since he was seized on July 22. The family had not publicly disclosed the phone conversation before. | |
| As of Thursday, the incarceration of Mr. Rezaian, an Iranian-American from Northern California, became the longest of any Western correspondent held by the Iranian authorities. | As of Thursday, the incarceration of Mr. Rezaian, an Iranian-American from Northern California, became the longest of any Western correspondent held by the Iranian authorities. |
| “While it was wonderful to hear his voice, it was difficult for both of us,” Mrs. Rezaian, who moved to Istanbul last year, said in a telephone interview while visiting relatives in the United States. | |
| “I knew there were other people present, so we couldn’t really speak about the situation at all,” she said, “other than he told me that ‘they are telling me to tell you that I am being treated well and I am in a detention center.′ ” | |
| Mrs. Rezaian said she knew from other relatives who had been permitted to see her son that Mr. Rezaian’s assertion about his place of confinement “did not square with the facts on the ground.” | |
| The family has said that Mr. Rezaian, 38, has been held in solitary confinement in a Tehran prison for most of the time since his arrest and is having health problems. | The family has said that Mr. Rezaian, 38, has been held in solitary confinement in a Tehran prison for most of the time since his arrest and is having health problems. |
| Mrs. Rezaian had said little about her son’s imprisonment, partly because she did not want to inadvertently antagonize the authorities holding him. In a video released by the family in August, she pleaded with them to let her son go. | |
| She said she felt more emboldened to speak after the news emerged that Mr. Rezaian had been charged with undisclosed offenses on Saturday at a secret 10-hour court hearing, and that an Iranian lawyer hired by the family to represent him had not been allowed to attend. | She said she felt more emboldened to speak after the news emerged that Mr. Rezaian had been charged with undisclosed offenses on Saturday at a secret 10-hour court hearing, and that an Iranian lawyer hired by the family to represent him had not been allowed to attend. |
| “We’ve moved into a different realm,” Mrs. Rezaian said. | |
| It is unclear why the charges have not been made public. Iranian officials have spoken only vaguely about the prosecution, calling it unrelated to journalism. | It is unclear why the charges have not been made public. Iranian officials have spoken only vaguely about the prosecution, calling it unrelated to journalism. |
| The Rezaian family, The Washington Post, the United States government and free press and human rights advocates have all criticized Iran for the arrest of Mr. Rezaian and for the secretive judicial process that has followed. | The Rezaian family, The Washington Post, the United States government and free press and human rights advocates have all criticized Iran for the arrest of Mr. Rezaian and for the secretive judicial process that has followed. |
| The length of time it has taken to charge Mr. Rezaian, and the undisclosed accusations, they said, show that the judicial authorities have no grounds to hold him. | The length of time it has taken to charge Mr. Rezaian, and the undisclosed accusations, they said, show that the judicial authorities have no grounds to hold him. |
| Even some prominent Iranian officials have expressed their unhappiness over the case, in what appears to be a sign of sharp divisions within the hierarchy. | Even some prominent Iranian officials have expressed their unhappiness over the case, in what appears to be a sign of sharp divisions within the hierarchy. |
| Last week, the secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Council, Mohammad Javad Larijani, who had predicted that the case would be resolved soon, told the France 24 news website in an interview that the prosecution of Mr. Rezaian had been a “fiasco.” | |
| Mr. Rezaian’s wife, Yeganeh Salehi, and two others were arrested with him, but they were later released. Ms. Salehi, a journalist, has been allowed to see her husband once or twice a week, but she has been barred from working and has declined to comment on the case. |