The Iranian authorities must end the farcical waiting game for the verdict in the case of Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian, and release him immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

The call comes after a spokesperson for Iran's Judiciary said the charges against the Washington Post journalist – including espionage and “spreading propaganda against the system” – are not related to journalism. United Nations experts are among others around the world who have called on the Iranian authorities to release him.

“After subjecting Jason Rezaian to over one year in pre-trial detention - over six of them in solitary confinement with no access to a lawyer - it is a further affront to justice to keep him behind bars for even one more day. He had been working legally and openly as a journalist in Iran and his prosecution is clearly motivated by an attempt to crush independent reporting in the country,” said Said Boumedouha, Acting Programme Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

“Unfortunately, Iran has an appalling track record of jailing reporters. Jason Rezaian’s arrest and detention is the latest in a long line of attacks by the Iranian authorities against journalists who are peacefully and legitimately carrying out their work.”

Amnesty International believes the trial, which began on 26 May and was held in four closed-door sessions at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, was seriously flawed.

Read the full story via Amnesty International.