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ByNasserKarimiand Adam Schreck The Associated Press TEHRAN, IRAN AWashing- ton Post reporter jailed for nearly nine months in Iran faces charges of espionage and three other crimes, his lawyer revealed Monday following her first in-depth meeting with the journalist. The Post, citing a state- ment from defense law- yer Leila Ahsan, said Jason Rezaian also faces charges of "conducting propaganda against the establishment," "collaborating with hostile governments" and "collect- ing information about in- ternal and foreign policy and providing them to in- dividuals with malicious in- tent." In an interview with The Associated Press, Ah- san described the journal- ist as being in good spirits and health, but said his con- tinued detention alongside other inmates and a lack of access to outside media has taken a toll on his well-be- ing. Ahsan's comments were the first confirmation of the exact charges Rezaian faces. Post Executive Edi- tor Martin Baron said in a statement that Ahsan's meeting with Rezaian on Monday lasted 90 min- utes and was conducted in the presence of an offi- cial translator. Baron said the charges, which he de- scribed as "ludicrous," carry a maximum penalty of 10 to 20 years in prison. "It is absurd and despica- ble to assert, as Iran's judi- ciary is now claiming, that Jason's work first as a free- lance reporter and then as the Post's Tehran corre- spondent amounted to es- pionage or otherwise posed any threat to Iranian na- tional security," Baron said. Rezaian's lawyer said his continued imprisonment without bail is unjustified. "There is no legal basis for continuing his deten- tion," she told the AP. No trial date has been set, she added. Earlier Monday, the of- ficial IRNA news agency quoted Gholamhossein Es- maili, the director-general of the Tehran provincial justice department, saying Rezaian's case had been re- ferred to a branch of Revo- lutionary Court. IRAN La wy er s ay s WP reporter faces 4 charges By Colleen Barry The Associated Press MILAN Rescuers re- sponded Monday to two new migrant emergencies off Libya and a third boat ran aground near Greece following a weekend di- saster that left hundreds feared dead, as top Euro- pean officials searched for ways to stem the tide of ille- gal trafficking from Africa and the Middle East. Decrying what he called an "escalation in death voy- ages," Italian Premier Mat- teo Renzi urged a united European response to com- bat the rising humanitar- ian crisis in the Mediterra- nean Sea. "We are facing an or- ganized criminal activ- ity that is making lots of money, but above all ruin- ing many lives," Renzi said in a joint news conference with Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Calling the weekend tragedy "a game changer," Muscat said that "if Eu- rope doesn't work together, history will judge it very badly." Meanwhile, new details emerged about the disaster that left at least 700 feared drowned — a death toll that, if confirmed, could make it the deadliest mi- grant tragedy ever. Italian prosecutors said hundreds were locked below deck unable to escape when the rickety boat capsized off the coast of Libya. Speaking at a news con- ference in Catania, Sic- ily, prosecutor Giovanni Salvi said "a few hundred were forced into the hold and they were locked in and prevented from com- ing out." He said hundreds more were locked on a sec- ond level of the boat, which also had hundreds of mi- grants squeezed into its up- per deck. Muscat, the Maltese pre- mier, estimated that the smugglers who organized the ill-fated crossing had cashed in 1 million to 5 mil- lion euros (dollars). One survivor of the weekend sinking, identi- fied as a 32-year-old Ban- gladeshi, has put the num- ber of people on board the smugglers' boat at as many as 950, though Salvi said that number should be treated with caution since the survivor had no means to verify numbers. He said the coast guard had estimated 700 peo- ple were on board, based on its observations at the scene. Renzi said that recent tragedies have proven that providing rescue wasn't al- ways possible, given the conditions of the smug- glers' boats and delicacy of such operations, and that the focus needs to be on preventing the boats from leaving Libya. "Continuing to think that allowing them to de- part and then chasing af- ter them means putting at risk human lives," he said. Renzi's focus on the smugglers came as the EU president announced that European Union leaders would meet Thursday in an emergency summit to discuss responses, and au- thorities in southern Italy announced they had bro- ken up a smuggling ring responsible for helping Af- rican migrants reach Ital- ian shores. Even as European lead- ers grappled with how to respond to the crisis, more unseaworthy boats were setting off Monday on the perilous journey. Renzi said Italian ships were rushing to respond to dis- tress calls from an inflat- able life raft near the Lib- yan coast with 100 to 150 migrants on board and to another boat carrying about 300 people. MEDITERRANEAN Amid migrant emergencies, EU searches for response FRANCESCOMALAVOLTA—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Migrants are waiting to board on a cruise ship as they leave the Island of Lampedusa, Southern Italy, to be transferred in Porto Empedocle, Sicily, on Friday. By Lolita C. Baldor The Associated Press WASHINGTON In a stepped-up response to Ira- nian backing of Shiite reb- els in Yemen, the Navy air- craft carrier, USS Theodore Roosevelt, is steaming to- ward the waters off Yemen to beef up security and join other American ships that are prepared to intercept any Iranian vessels carry- ing weapons to the Houthi rebels. The deployment comes after a U.N. Security Coun- cil resolution approved last week imposed an arms embargo on the Iranian- backed Shiite Houthi reb- els. The resolution passed in a 14-0 vote with Russia abstaining. Navy officials said Mon- day that the Roosevelt was moving through the Ara- bian Sea. A massive ship that carries F/A-18 fighter jets, the Roosevelt is seen more of a deterrent and show of force in the region. The U.S. Navy has been beefing up its presence in the Gulf of Aden and the southern Arabian Sea in response to reports that a convoy of about eight Ira- nian ships is heading to- ward Yemen and possi- bly carrying arms for the Houthis. Navy officials said there are about nine U.S. warships in the region, in- cluding cruisers and de- stroyers carrying teams that can board and search other vessels. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not au- thorized to discuss the ship movement on the record. Saudi Arabia and sev- eral of its allies, mainly Gulf Arab countries, have been trying to drive back the rebels, who seized the capital of Sanaa in Septem- ber and have overrun many other northern provinces with the help of security forces loyal to former Pres- ident Ali Abdullah Saleh. The U.S. supports the Saudi campaign. Western governments and Sunni Arab countries say the Houthis get their arms from Iran. Tehran and the rebels deny that, although the Islamic Re- public has provided politi- cal and humanitarian sup- port to the Shiite group. The U.S. has been pro- viding logistical and intelli- gence support to the Saudi coalition launching air- strikes against the Houthis. That air campaign is now in its fourth week, and the U.S. has also begun refu- eling coalition aircraft in- volved in the conflict. White House spokes- man Josh Earnest would not comment specifically on any Navy movements in Yemeni waters, but said the U.S. has concerns about Iran's "continued support for the Houthis. "We have seen evidence that the Iranians are sup- plying weapons and other armed support to the Houthis in Yemen. That support will only contrib- ute to greater violence in that country. These are ex- actly the kind of destabiliz- ing activities that we have in mind when we raise con- cerns about Iran's destabi- lizing activities in the Mid- dle East." He said "the Iranians are acutely aware of our con- cerns for their continued support of the Houthis by sending them large ship- ments of weapons." The expanded U.S. Navy activity in the region comes at a sensitive time, as the U.S. and six world powers have reached a framework deal with Iran to control its nuclear program. Since the preliminary deal with reached on April 2, Iran and the U.S. have been dis- puting the details of the deal. And on Monday, a lawyer for Tehran-based Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian said Tehran had charged Rezaian with espionage and three other crimes. The Obama ad- ministration dismisses the charges as "absurd." The U.S. Navy gener- ally conducts consensual boardings of ships when needed, including to com- bat piracy around Africa and the region. So far, how- ever, U.S. naval personnel have not boarded any Ira- nian vessels since the Ye- men conflict began. 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