Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who has been detained in Iran since July 2014, is being released as part of a prisoner swap deal, according to an Iranian news agency report on Saturday.
Three other prisoners are also being released, the semi-official FARS news agency said, citing Tehran’s prosecutor.
Rezaian’s brother Ali said he had no immediate confirmation of the news.
The Washington Post had no immediate way of knowing if the reports are accurate.
“While we are hopeful, we have not received any official word of Jason’s release,” a spokeswoman said.
Rezaian has spent the past 18 months behind bars on charges of espionage that have been roundly rejected by his colleagues and family members.
Journalists around the world have protested his detention and called for his release. In the Earlier this month, the leaders of 25 newsrooms and media advocacy groups sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging the U.S. government to do more to secure Rezaian’s release.
“Independent journalism is recognized as a fundamental human right. Iran should recognize this, too, and free Jason,” the editors wrote.
Government officials have pressed Rezaian’s case during negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program.
John Kirby, a State Department spokesman, said earlier this month: “As we have said repeatedly, we believe that our citizens should be returned to the United States to be with their families as soon as they possibly can. As Secretary Kerry has noted many times, we are working very hard to get our citizens back home, and we call again on Iran to release them.”
