Skip Granger
Among the many lessons I have learned in life are that the world is a scary place, and success is often dependent on who you know. Both of those lessons were on full display in the case of Jason Rezaian.
I learned about Jason while serving on the Board of Directors of the Community Institute for Psychotherapy with his mother, Mary. I became good friends with Mary and her husband Taghi (who himself immigrated from Iran during my senior year at Wichita East), and heard many stories about their son Jason, the Tehran bureau chief for The Washington Post.
In 2014, Iranian authorities arrested Jason and his wife, convicting them of espionage in a closed-door trial. Among his alleged crimes were “propaganda against the establishment,” which infuriates the attorney in me. It was also concerning to hear that the length of his prison sentence was “undisclosed.”Jason’s conviction became national news, drawing calls for his release from fellow journalists, celebrities like Anthony Bourdain, and a 90-0 vote of the US Senate. There was even a Change.org petition created by his brother Ali with more than 530,000 signatures.
As months passed with no announced release date, I started to get involved. Through owning Starry Night winery, I got to meet several local politicians who enjoyed showcasing my wine at their fundraisers. When I first met Jared
Huffman, he was a California State Assemblyman mostly known for his work on the Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee. But in 2012, Jared ran for the House of Representatives in my home district of Marin County, California.
Huffman, he was a California State Assemblyman mostly known for his work on the Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee. But in 2012, Jared ran for the House of Representatives in my home district of Marin County, California.Jared and I don’t agree on everything, such as his statement in 2017 that he was non-religious (or as he called it, a “humanist”). I appealed to his humanist side when explaining that one of his voters was rotting in an Iranian prison cell for reporting news, and Jared used his influence in Washington.
Finally, in January 2016, Jason was released from prison. Jared Huffman was one of three Congressmen who flew to Germany to bring Jason back to America. I celebrated with the Rezaian family that our prayers had been answered.
Jason wrote a book about this ordeal called Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison. He also received the 2016 McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage, and resumed his reporting for The Washington Post. His story is more relevant than ever with the current news of U.S. tensions with Iran, and Jason recently gave an interview with The Daily Show.
I got my law degree from the University of Kansas to help defendants like Jason, but who would have thought that owning a winery would have been just as important in facilitating his release?
Jason and me and Jared make Three346,952 views Jan 26, 2026 #DailyShow#Iran#WashingtonPost
Director of Press Freedom Initiatives at The Washington Post, sits down with Jon Stewart to discuss the increasingly deadly protests against the Iranian regime. They talk about the importance of collecting details of the Iranian experience despite the impermeable internet blackouts, how Trump’s desire to make a deal with Iran would only empower the current oppressive regime, the benefits of including Iranian dissidents exiled to the U.S. in policy conversations, and the humor that carried Rezaian through his 544-day wrongful prison sentence in Iran. #DailyShow #Iran #WashingtonPost #JonStewartEditor’s Note: As Skip mentioned, he thought this story would be of interest, given the current political situation in Iran. It does qualify as “scary.”
