The freedom of the Iranian press once again undermined. In Iran, journalists Elnaz Mohammadi of the daily Ham Mihanand Negin Bagheri, from the newspaper Haft-e Sobh, were sentenced to three years in prison, most of which suspended, for “conspiracy” and “collusion”, according to local media. They will have to serve 1/40th of their sentence in detention, a little less than a month, their lawyer, Amir Raisian, told Ham Mihan.
“The remainder of the sentence is suspended for five years,” added the lawyer. During this period, the convicts will have to take “professional ethics” courses and will not be able to leave Iran. Elnaz Mohammadi was detained for a week in February for an unspecified reason.
She is the sister of Elahe Mohammadi, another journalist working for the daily Ham Mihan who has been detained since September 2022 for covering the funeral of Mahsa Amini.
90 journalists arrested or questioned since the protests
The death of this 22-year-old Kurdish woman, who died after being arrested by vice police for allegedly breaking the very strict dress rules imposed by the Islamic Republic, had sparked protests across the country.
Hundreds of people, including dozens of members of the security forces, were killed during these demonstrations. Thousands of demonstrators were also arrested, accused by the authorities of taking part in “riots” fomented by Israel, a sworn enemy of Iran, and by Western countries. Local media recently reported that more than 90 journalists had been arrested or questioned since the protests.