Rieder: Iran's outrageous detention of U.S. reporter

It's a bleak benchmark indeed.

On Friday, Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian will have spent 444 days in captivity in Iran. That's the number of days the American hostages were held by the Iranians.

Rezaian's crime? Doing his job.

Hopes that Rezaian's detention might at last come to an end escalated after the United States and Iran reached an agreement in July aimed at preventing the latter from building nuclear weapons.

First take: Obama's winning streak continues with Iran deal

But nearly three months later, there have been no signs of progress, and the journalist remains in the brutal Evin prison in northwest Tehran.

Rezaian's incarceration is an outrageous act by the Iranians, one that does little to inspire confidence in a nation that has long been at odds with the United States.

Rieder: Past time for Iran to free jailed reporter

Iran claims that Rezaian, who holds dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship, is a spy. But the scant evidence that it has cited is laughable.

Rezaian was held for a long time without being charged. Ultimately accused of espionage, he was tried behind closed doors. When the proceedings ended Aug. 10, there were expectations that a verdict would soon follow. His mother told the Post that he was "steeling himself" to the case's denouement. Since then, nothing.

President Obama has said he has been working to secure Rezaian's freedom, but his efforts have been fruitless.

The Post commendably has campaigned vigorously for the journalist's release, doing whatever it can to keep the reprehensible episode in the public eye and make sure its correspondent isn't forgotten. In July, the newspaper petitioned the United Nations' Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to come to Rezaian's aid.

'Washington Post' to U.N.: Free jailed reporter

U.N. human rights officials have assailed Iran's treatment of the journalist and called for his release. But he remains locked up.

"The arrest, detention and secret trial of Mr. Rezaian violate his rights and intimidate all those working in the media in Iran,” the Post quoted David Kaye, the U.N. special rapporteur for promoting freedom of opinion and expression, as saying. “His continued detention violates basic rules that not only aim to protect journalists, bloggers, human rights activists and others, but to guarantee everyone’s right to information.”

With Friday's dark watershed approaching, Post Executive Editor Martin Baron renewed his call for Iran to at last do the right thing and free the journalist.

“We again call on Iran to release Jason without further delay," Baron said. "Jason has been subjected to a secret, sham trial, solitary confinement, relentless interrogations, physical mistreatment and psychological abuse.  ... That he has been imprisoned as long as those taken during the hostage crisis decades ago should be cause for shame and outrage.”

'Washington Post' reporter languishes in Iranian jail

It has never been clear why Iran decided to keep Rezaian in jail. The reporter was arrested along with his wife, journalist Yeganeh Salehi, and two others on July 22, 2014. But the others were soon freed. There has been speculation that Rezaian's detention has something  to do with a power struggle between hard-liners and moderates. But this is, after all, Iran. No one really knows.

And while Rezaian has the dubious honor of having been imprisoned in Iran longer than any other Western journalist, harsh treatment of reporters is hardly unusual there. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Iran No. 7 among the world's most censored countries, and says it uses "mass and arbitrary detention as a means of silencing dissent."

Last month, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested that Iran might release Rezaian and two other Americans held in Iran if the U.S freed Iranian prisoners in this country.

Jason Rezaian is no bargaining chip. He's a journalist locked up for doing journalism. It's time, well past time, for Iran to release him unconditionally.