Washington Post journalist faces 'espionage' charges in Iran

A Washington Post journalist, who has been in jail in Iran for the last nine months, is facing four charges including espionage, his lawyer said.

According to the counsel, the newspaper's Tehran correspondent, Jason Rezaian, is accused of "collaborating with hostile governments" and spreading "propaganda," reported the BBC.

Rezaian was taken into custody in July and charged in December but the accusations leveled against him had not been made public until now.

While terming the charges "absurd and despicable," the paper's executive editor, Martin Baron, accused Iran of "indefensible silence" in having kept Rezaian in jail for nine months without revealing why. A statement released by the newspaper urged Tehran to allow its correspondent and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, who is also a journalist and was also taken into custody in July, to walk free.

The statement said that the world will be watching and any "just outcome to this tragic charade" can only result in the couple's exoneration and immediate release.

The U.S. State Department said that the charges against Rezaian, if confirmed, were "patently absurd.