Tehran, June 3, 215 - Jason Rezaian's detentions, charges and the potential sentence have engaged much of the media outlets, both in Iran and US, particularly during past weeks.

The story of Rezaian, the 39-year-old dual Iranian-American citizen in Iran began since 2012, when he was authorized by the government to work as the Washington Post's correspondent in Tehran. However, he had settled in Tehran as a journalist since 2008, working for other press including the San Francisco Chronicle.

Rezaian alongside his wife, Yeganeh Salehi and two other photojournalists, whose identities remained unknown, were detained in late July of last year. The three others were released later but he has been imprisoned so far. Although the nature of the charges was quite unknown for almost 9 months, the last week closed door trial put forth the charges, which are mainly "espionage through collecting classified information and providing it to hostile governments" and "spreading propaganda against the regime".

Evidence against Rezaian

Some internal news agencies including Fars and Vatan-e-Emrooz published different reports, detailing some evidence that indicates Rezaian extensive relationship with some exiled anti-Iran activists and hostile agencies including NIAC (National Iranian American Council) and CIA. The Fars report accused the journalist of illegally accessing to high profile information and selling them to hostile countries.

Vatan-e-Emrooz explains the types of the top secret information he had attempts to spy on, including the nuclear activity program, gaining access to the important governmental organizations, disclosing the Iran’s counter-sanctions programs such as the identities of intermediary companies and companies cooperated with Iran in fighting against sanctions.

In the report titled "Uncoding Jason", it extensively deals with the Jason's links to the NIAC's members and particularly Reza Marashi, the organization's second highest rank member who already was hired by the US Defense Department to infiltrate the top secret state organizations in Iran.

Both reports suggest that under the journalistic cover, Rezaian have provided extremely sensitive industrial and economic data to the US government. According to Fars, it has concrete proof of the correspondent's espionage activities, although it prefers to not release them until it is legally permitted.

Another significant piece of evidence is Rezaian's letter to president Obama after his election in 2008. In the first court hearing, Rezaian was questioned for the letter in which he included his records as a journalist in Tehran. The statement "I am in contact with everyone from simple workers to influential mullahs in Iran" along with his direct reference to "a network of association" are largely suspected by Iran's judiciary.

US Media Reactions

The Western media heavily criticize Iran for the journalist detention and his legal proceeding, calling the accusations as totally baseless. Their analysis over the reporter detention is basically revolving around two main ideas:

First idea introduces Rezaian as a victim of internal power struggle in Iran, arguing that the hardliners and the president's opponents try to undermine the government, due to the fact that they are highly suspicious of engagement with international community and Iran-US rapprochement. They actually are doing their best to show that even a nuclear breakthrough will not end the Iran-US enmity and this is why a case was built against the president's nephew for contacts to the Post's journalist, Jason Rezaian.

The second vision signifies the role of Rezaian as a bargaining chip for Iran in the nuclear talks. In better words, as Iran and US continue to pursue a nuclear accord, Iran has brought up the Rezaian's accusation as a spy to enhance its position in the nuclear negotiations.

What’s clear is that the Rezaian's case is not unprecedented. On one hand, it has been a routine for decades that the US spies on both its citizens (for the so called security purpose) and other countries to seek out the secret information. On the other hand, there have been few examples of the dual citizens arrested on accusations of spying for foreign countries in recent years in Iran. The truth is that Iran does not recognize dual citizenship and this is why it treats Rezaian as an Iranian and based on the internal laws. On this logic, Iran rejects any interventionist remarks regarding the case.