Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian who has been held captive by the Iranian establishment for more than 500 days, was allowed to have a Christmas dinner with his family, his paper reported.
“We are enormously pleased that our colleague Jason was permitted to spend extended time with his mother Mary and his wife Yegi,” Post executive editor Martin Baron said in a December 25 statement.
The statement added that “this visit is a rare exception in the 522 days of tragic, unjust imprisonment of a good, honorable and innocent man.”
Rezaian, a 39-year-old dual Iranian-American citizen, was earlier this year convicted of espionage following a trial that was held behind closed doors. Iran’s judiciary said in November that Rezaian has been sentenced to an unspecified prison term.
His family and his paper have repeatedly dismissed the charges against him and called for his release.
With reporting by the Washington Post