Shabtabnews In this dark night, I have lost my way – Arise from a corner, oh you the star of guidance.
RFL/RE – An Iranian court on October 22 sentenced two female journalists to prison for their coverage of the 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
The state IRNA news agency reported that Niloofar Hamedi, 31, had been sentenced to seven years in prison, while Elahah Mohammadi, 36, was given a six-year sentence for “collaborating with the hostile U.S. government.”
In addition, each was sentenced to five years for “acting against national security” and one year for “propaganda against the system,” with those sentences to run concurrently with the longer terms.
Lawyers for the journalists said their clients rejected the allegations.
Amini’s death while in custody of the so-called morality police for an alleged violation of Iran’s strict Islamic dress code sparked months of national protests that became the most daunting challenge to the ruling theocracy in decades.
Hamedi was arrested after she took a photograph of Amini’s parents embracing at a Tehran hospital while their daughter was in a coma. Mohammadi was arrested some time later after covering Amini’s funeral in her hometown of Saqez.
The sentences are subject to appeal. If they are upheld, the time the two women have already spent in custody would be deducted from the prison terms.
Last year, Iran’s Intelligence Ministry accused the two women of working for a U.S. intelligence agency.
Mohammadi is a reporter for the Ham Mihan newspaper, while Hamedi is a photographer for the Shargh newspaper.
Both have been held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since September 2022.
Last week, Amini’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, was sentenced to a year in prison for propaganda against the state and for making comments to foreign and domestic media about the case.
