A Nov. 6, 2013, photo shows Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post reporter, at the newspaper in Washington. (Zoeann Murphy/AP)[/caption]Jason Rezaian, the Washington PostsIrancorrespondent, who was imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement six months ago for unspecified reasons, has been moved recently and has a cellmate, his brother said Friday.
The brother, Ali Rezaian, also said that Jason Rezaians wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who was imprisoned at the same time for unspecified reasons but released on bail after a month, had been permitted for the first time to consult a lawyer.
Reached by telephone in California, where he lives, Ali Rezaian said he had learned of the developments in recent days.
Although the changes suggested that Mr. Rezaians conditions had eased, it was unclear whether they signaled some movement in the prosecutions of Mr. Rezaian and his wife, which remain shrouded in secrecy.
Ali Rezaian said that his brother still had not been permitted to consult a lawyer and that he remained in the same area of Tehrans Evin Prison where he has been incarcerated since July, although not always in solitary confinement. The identity of his cellmate was unknown.
On Jan. 14,Irans official news agency announcedthat Mr. Rezaian had been formally charged and would be tried in a Revolutionary Court. But it did not describe the charges or specify when the trial would begin.
The prosecution of Mr. Rezaian, 38, a dual Iranian-American citizen, and Ms. Salehi, 30, an Iranian journalist who worked for a newspaper in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, has become another vexing irritant in the troubled relations between the United States and Iran.
Mr. Rezaians family, American officials and The Washington Post have repeatedly asked Iran to explain the basis for the prosecution. Some political analysts have viewed the prosecution as Irans way of gaining leverage in negotiations over its disputednuclear program.
Besides Mr. Rezaian, two other Americans of Iranian descent are known to be imprisoned in Iran, and American officials have called on the government to release them.
By The New York Times
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