article_snippet.sent: A Washington Post reporter detained in Iran has been charged with espionage and collaborating with 'hostile governments', nine months after A Washington Post reporter detained in Iran arrest.
article_snippet.sent: The charges against Jason Rezaian had been shrouded in secrecy until now in what has become a politically sensitive case that has parallelled with high-level nuclear talks between Iran and global powers, including the United States.
article_snippet.sent: Monday, Jason Rezaian's lawyer Leila Ahsan detailed the four serious offences Leila Ahsan client faces, in a decision branded absurd Monday by the White House and the newspaper.
article_snippet.sent: As well as allegedly spying under The charges against Jason Rezaian, the 39-year-old journalist, the Post's Tehran correspondent, stands accused of gathering classified information and of disseminating propaganda against the Islamic republic.
article_snippet.sent: Ahsan, who said she had access to the complete criminal file, said the complete criminal file contained 'no justifiable proof' against Rezaian, and that she had seen no legal reason to continue his detention after the case's preliminary investigation.
article_snippet.sent: But she said requests for bail had been turned down and criticised Iranian media for publishing allegations about Rezaian that are 'wrong and contrary to reality'.
article_snippet.sent: No date has yet been set for trial, she said, shortly after a senior judicial official described the dossier against the journalist, who holds both American and Iranian nationality, as 'thick'.
article_snippet.sent: Rezaian will face the allegations in one of the Islamic republic's revolutionary courts, whose jurisdiction includes handling crimes against national security.
article_snippet.sent: Rezaian cases are heard behind closed doors.
article_snippet.sent: she mother Mary said His mother Mary had discussed the charges with the journalist's wife, who remains in Tehran, but had no further comment.
article_snippet.sent: The reporter's detention has political resonance both because of The reporter dual nationality and the long-running nuclear talks regarding Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
article_snippet.sent: White House spokesman Josh Earnest said The reporter's detention had no official confirmation of the allegations, but if reports of Rezaian being accused of spying were true it would be 'absurd' and that the charges with the journalist's wife, who remains in Tehran, but had no further comment should be 'immediately dropped'.
article_snippet.sent: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif last week said The reporter faced 'very serious' allegations but it was a matter for Iran's judiciary, insisting the case was free of political interference.
article_snippet.sent: Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (pictured) last week said The reporter faced 'very serious' allegations but it was a matter for Iran's judiciary .
article_snippet.sent: In a rare official comment regarding Rezaian, Gholamhossein Esmaili, Tehran's judiciary chief, said Monday: 'The file is thick and contains different aspects.'
article_snippet.sent: Quoted by the official IRNA news agency, The reporter added: 'In due course the judgment will be pronounced.'
article_snippet.sent: In a statement, the Post's executive editor Martin Baron said: 'The grave charges against Jason that Iran has now disclosed could not be more ludicrous. '
article_snippet.sent: It is absurd and despicable to assert, as Iran's judiciary is now claiming, that Jason's work first as a freelance reporter and then as The Post's Tehran correspondent amounted to espionage.'
highlights_snippet.sent: Jason Rezaian faces trial for collaborating with 'hostile governments'
  The Tehran correspondent is accused of gathering classified information .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: Charges labelled 'absurd' by White House and 'ludicrous' by paper .