Why Jason Rezaian is scared for Brittney Griner

Today on Post Reports, we talk to our colleague Jason Rezaian about WNBA star Brittney Griner’s detention in Russia. Rezaian, who was unjustly held in Iran for 544 days, fears that Griner is being held as a geopolitical bargaining chip. 

Read more:

Post opinions writer Jason Rezaian is very concerned about Brittney Griner. 

When he heard of her arrest, he says, his first thought was, “This sounds a lot like what happened to me.” 

Rezaian was arrested in 2014, and his case became a bargaining chip in nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Given the timing of Griner’s arrest, Rezaian says it could be tied to sanctions from the United States in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His opinions, he says, are informed by a new reality: More Americans are being wrongfully detained abroad, especially in moments of tension or conflict.

Watch The Post’s short documentary “Bring Them Home,” an intimate look at one family in this situation.