In Iran, journalism is a dangerous profession. Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi, two Iranian women imprisoned for helping to publicize the death in custody of young Kurd Masha Amini in September, were sentenced to seven and six years in prison, state media announced on Sunday.
Prison sentences
Journalist Elaheh Mohammadi was sentenced to six years in prison for collaboration with the United States, five years for plotting against the country’s security and one year for propaganda against the Islamic Republic, according to the agency of Justice Mizan Online.
Photojournalist Niloufar Hamedi was sentenced to seven years in prison for cooperation with the United States, five years in prison for plotting against the security of the country and one year for propaganda against the Islamic Republic, added the same source.
Mohammadi, 36, reporter for Ham Mihan, and Hamedi, 31, photographer for the Shargh newspaper, have been detained since September 2022 in Evin prison in Tehran and their trials began in May. The verdict can be appealed within 20 days, Mizan said.
Accused of “propaganda”
The two women were imprisoned for covering up the death, on September 16, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested in Tehran by the moral police who accused her of having violated the dress code of the Islamic Republic, imposing particularly for women to wear the veil in public.
They were accused on November 8 of “propaganda” against the Islamic Republic and conspiracy against national security. Iranian justice on Tuesday sentenced Mahsa Amini’s lawyer to one year in prison for “propaganda” against the state after “speaking with foreign and local media about the case”, according to his defense.