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Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi are accused of performing in opposition to nationwide safety, fees their households deny.
Tehran, Iran – Two feminine journalists in Iran have obtained preliminary jail sentences for nationwide safety fees over instances linked with the Mahsa Amini protests.
The journalists, Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, have been arrested in September 2022, days after protests broke out throughout Iran following the demise of 22-year-old Amini in police custody. Their trials started in late Could.
The official information web site of the Iranian judiciary stated on Sunday that Hamedi and Mohammadi obtained a complete of 13 years and 12 years in jail, respectively, however they won’t need to serve the total sentences.
Hamedi’s preliminary sentence is seven years in jail for “cooperating with the hostile authorities of the US”, and Mohammadi has obtained six years for a similar offence.
They obtained 5 years in jail every for the cost of “collusion to commit crimes in opposition to the nation’s safety” and a one-year sentence for “propaganda in opposition to the institution of the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
Furthermore, Hamedi was sentenced to a two-year ban on membership in political events or teams, being energetic on social media, or working in media.
“Within the instances of each aforementioned people, there may be confirmed proof of hyperlinks with some entities and people linked with the US authorities, which was finished knowingly and in following anti-security insurance policies,” the judiciary web site stated.
The punishments may doubtlessly be diminished, in accordance with the web site. The preliminary sentences may be appealed inside 20 days in a Tehran courtroom.
If the sentences are confirmed as they’re, the 2 girls will solely need to serve their longest sentence, nonetheless – seven years for Hamedi and 6 years for Mohammadi.
‘Hybrid wars and delicate overthrow’
Hamedi and Mohammadi labored for reformist newspapers Sharq and Hammihan, respectively. Hamedi had printed a viral picture on social media of Amini’s mother and father embracing and crying on the hospital in Tehran the place she died, whereas Mohammadi had travelled to Amini’s hometown of Saqqez to report on her funeral.
In October 2022, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a uncommon joint assertion that blamed the US as the primary wrongdoer behind the nation’s months-long unrest, backing an assertion by Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
It additionally stated the 2 journalists have been educated in all-paid programs held by the US in lots of international international locations to show “hybrid wars and delicate overthrow” of the Iranian institution, and “performed the position of being the primary sources to fabricate information for international media” on developments that led to the unrest.
The households of the journalists and the newspapers that employed them have denied the costs, saying they have been solely doing their jobs.
Hamedi’s husband, Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou, on Sunday took to X, previously Twitter, to have fun her thirty first birthday, the second she is marking in jail.
“We all know that collectively, we are going to overcome all of the difficulties and have fun freedom,” he wrote in a message to his spouse.
Together with human rights activist Narges Mohammadi – who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this month – the 2 journalists have been named as recipients of the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in Could.
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