Iran sentences an Iranian-American journalist to 10 years in prison

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in Iran has sentenced Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh to 10 years on prison after finding him guilty of collaborating with a hostile government, his lawyer said Saturday.

Reza Valizadeh is a former journalist for the U.S.-government-funded Voice of America's Farsi language service and also has worked for Radio Farda, an outlet under Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Mohammad Hossein Aghasi, the lawyer of Valizadeh, told The Associated Press that the Tehran Revolutionary Court issued a first-instance verdict for his client on a charge of “collaborating with the hostile U.S. government.”

Aghasi said that the verdict can be appealed within 20 days since it was delivered to them a week ago. He added that he hasn’t been able to meet with Valizadeh since the verdict was issued.

In August, Valizadeh apparently posted two messages suggesting he had returned to Iran despite Radio Farda being viewed by Iran’s theocracy as a hostile outlet.

“I arrived in Tehran on March 6, 2024. Before that, I had unfinished negotiations with the (Revolutionary Guard’s) intelligence department,” the message read in part. “Eventually I came back to my country after 13 years without any security guarantee, even a verbal one.”

Aghasi said he was free during the first six months of his arrival and then was arrested.

Earlier in November, Kianoosh Sanjari, a former journalist with VOA's Farsi service, jumped to his death from a building in Iran’s capital in protest of the country’s supreme leader and an ongoing crackdown on dissent in the Islamic Republic.

Iranian authorities said that Sanjari, 42, had earlier demanded the release of four prisoners held in the country and threatened to kill himself if they weren’t released.

In 2007, a former Radio Farda broadcaster, Parnaz Azima, returned briefly to Iran to visit her ailing mother. Her passport was confiscated at the airport. Authorities banned her from leaving the country and summoned her repeatedly for questioning by security forces. Finally, she was freed on bail and allowed to leave the country eight months later.

Iran has faced years of unrest amid wider tensions with the West, most recently with the nationwide protests that followed the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini. Jobs also remain scarce and the country’s rial currency continues its yearslong collapse against the U.S. dollar, further straining the lives of Iranians.