Iran sentences Journalists who broke Mahsa Amini's death story to jail

Two female Iranian journalists arrested for reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide protests last year, have been sentenced for up to seven years in prison, the judiciary said Sunday. Amini’s death in custody on 16 September, 2022 after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for an alleged breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women led to mass protests across the country. The journalists Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi were both found guilty of collaboration with the United States, conspiring against state security and propaganda against the Islamic republic, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website said. Mohammadi, 36, was given six years in prison for collaboration with the United States and Hamedi, 31, was handed a seven-year term for the same offence, said Mizan. The two were also given five-year sentences each for the conspiracy charges and one each for propaganda, the website said, adding the sentences would be served concurrently. Mohammadi, a reporter for Ham Mihan newspaper, and Hamedi, a photographer for Shargh newspaper, have been held in Tehran’s Evin prison since September 2022, with their trials starting in May. The verdict against them are subject to appeal, Mizan added. The ruling follows the sentencing on Tuesday of Amini’s lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, to one year in prison for propaganda against the state and speaking with foreign and local media about the case.