2023-10-23 20:36:00
Niloofar Hamidi and Elahe Mohamadi
The United Nations Human Rights Office has called the sentences of six and seven years in prison against journalists Elahe Mohamadi and Niloofar Hamedi, respectively, for reporting on the death in custody of the young Kurdish woman a “blow to press freedom.” -Iranian Mahsa Amini in September last year.
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In a brief statement published on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, the office said it was “dismayed” by the sentences announced by the revolutionary court. “They should be released immediately and without conditions,” she added.
Hamedi was the first to report on Amini’s case from the hospital, who remained in a coma, while Mohamadi wrote a report on the young woman’s funeral. Both have been convicted of cooperating with foreign agents.
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The two journalists have also been convicted of other crimes, such as committing crimes against state security and propagating activities against the Islamic Republic of Iran, although they will only serve the highest sentence: six and seven years, respectively, for cooperating with “the hostile United States government,” according to the Iranian agency Mizan.
The Iranian court also sentenced the two journalists to two years of disqualification, meaning that they will not be able to join or participate in parties, civil groups, political groups and activities on the Internet, written press or any other media.
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They have 20 days to appeal the court decision to a higher court.
FILE – A woman holds a sign with a photo of Iranian Mahsa Amini during a protest against her death in Berlin, Germany (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
Both informants were arrested in September and have spent a good part of their detention in solitary confinement, according to their families.
The trials against the two journalists began at the end of May behind closed doors and they were only allowed to meet with their lawyers the day before.
Hamedi published a photo of Amini in the hospital, when she was in a coma and intubated, and days later he published another image of the young woman’s parents hugging in the hospital hallway upon learning of their daughter’s death.
Mohammadi covered Amini’s funeral in his town of Saqez, Kurdistan, where protests began and the first scarves were burned on September 17.
Almost a hundred journalists and photographers were detained for carrying out their work during the mobilizations in Iran, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, of whom 80 informants have been released on bail.
Amini’s death sparked strong protests that for months called for the end of the Islamic Republic and only disappeared after a repression that caused 500 deaths, the arrest of at least 22,000 people and in which seven protesters were executed, one of them in public.
The first anniversary of Amini’s death was commemorated on September 16 amid strong repression and a huge deployment of security forces, and only timid protests took place.
In recent months, the Iranian regime has been trying to reimpose the use of the veil, with the presence of patrols in the streets, the denial of services and the approval of a law that toughens punishments for not covering one’s hair.
(With information from EP and EFE)
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