Iranian Female Journalist Goes on Trial on Charges Linked to Amini Protests

An Iranian woman walks in a street in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
An Iranian woman walks in a street in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iranian Female Journalist Goes on Trial on Charges Linked to Amini Protests

An Iranian woman walks in a street in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
An Iranian woman walks in a street in Tehran, Iran, April 9, 2023. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

An Iranian journalist went on trial behind closed doors on Monday on charges linked to her coverage of the funeral of a Kurdish-Iranian woman whose death in custody last year triggered months of unrest, her lawyer told ILNA news agency.

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in custody of the morality police for allegedly violating the religious dress code unleashed a wave of mass protests across Iran for months, marking the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in decades.

Elaheh Mohammadi covered Amini's funeral in her Kurdish hometown Saqez, where the protests began. Tehran accused its foreign foes of igniting the protests to destabilize the country.

"The trial of Elaheh Mohammadi went well. The date of the next session will be announced by the court," her lawyer, Shahabeddin Mirlohi, told ILNA. He was not immediately available for comment.

Mohammadi, a reporter for the pro-reform Hammihan newspaper who is on trial in Tehran, and another journalist, Niloofar Hamedi, of the Sharq newspaper, have been accused of "colluding with hostile powers" for their coverage of Amini's death.

The charge potentially carries the death penalty under Iranian law.

A joint statement released by Iran’s intelligence ministry in October accused Mohammadi and Hamedi of being CIA foreign agents.

Hamedi took a photo of Amini's parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma.

The image, which Hamedi posted on Twitter, was the first signal to the world that all was not well with Amini, who had been detained three days earlier by Iran's morality police.

The two journalists, who have been held in Iran's notorious Evin prison since last September, will be tried separately. Hamedi's trial will begin on Tuesday, according to the judiciary.

Tehran has ignored repeated calls by rights groups for a public trial for the two journalists.



US Issues Fresh Iran Sanctions over Human Rights Violations

Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
TT

US Issues Fresh Iran Sanctions over Human Rights Violations

Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Women walk on a market street in Tehran on September 15, 2024, on the second anniversary of a protest movement sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

The United States issued a new round of Iran sanctions on Wednesday targeting 12 individuals who it said were tied to Tehran's "ongoing, violent repression of the Iranian people," including its "brutal crackdown on peaceful protests."
The sanctions, which come two years after the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amin in police custody, target members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iranian prison officials "and those responsible for lethal operations overseas," the US Treasury Department said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said Iran's security forces, including the IRGC and its Basij paramilitary force, had led a crackdown on peaceful protests in cities all over Iran.
IRGC units had used lethal force against protesters, arrested people for political expression, and attempted to intimidate the Iranian people through violence, it said.