Union of Journalists in Tehran: More than 100 Journalists Arrested Since Start of Protests

A woman looks at a picture of Iranian reporters Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi posted on Twitter, in Nicosia on November 2, 2022. (AFP)
A woman looks at a picture of Iranian reporters Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi posted on Twitter, in Nicosia on November 2, 2022. (AFP)
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Union of Journalists in Tehran: More than 100 Journalists Arrested Since Start of Protests

A woman looks at a picture of Iranian reporters Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi posted on Twitter, in Nicosia on November 2, 2022. (AFP)
A woman looks at a picture of Iranian reporters Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi posted on Twitter, in Nicosia on November 2, 2022. (AFP)

The Union of Journalists in Tehran said on Tuesday that more than 100 journalists have been arrested in Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022 that triggered unprecedented protests.

"Journalism in the country is going through a dark era," said Akbar Montajabi, the head of the Union of Journalists in Tehran, noting that over 100 journalists have been arrested over the past 11 months.

"However, even with these arrests, the flow of information remains unstoppable and finds its path like water," he added.

In an article published in Sazandegi newspaper, Montajabi said the era of journalistic suppression continues with an increasing number of journalists being arrested, dismissed, censored or forced into exile.

He insisted that "journalists are not adversaries" to the country.

"Those who steadfastly remained, holding the torch for freedom, are not foes. They do not cooperate with hostile governments; they are an integral part of the people. Journalists mirror the pain endured by the nation," he wrote.

Mass demonstrations erupted in September 2022 following the death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurd Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly breaching the Iran’s strict dress code for women.

Meanwhile, more than 90 journalists have been arrested or summoned over the past 10 months in different cities across the country, according to the reformist Shargh daily, quoting a report by a local committee that supports detained journalists.

Most have been released on bail or granted amnesty, but the fate of 11 journalists, including six detained and five others awaiting verdicts, "is still unknown," said the report published on Iran’s National Journalists’ Day, celebrated on August 8.

Among the detained journalists are Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who covered Amini’s death and have been detained since September.

Hamedi broke the news of Amini’s death and Mohammadi wrote about her funeral.

Hamedi works for the reformist newspaper Shargh, while Mohammadi works for the reformist newspaper Ham-Mihan.

The two journalists had been indicted on charges of acting against national security, and creating "propaganda against the system."

Hundreds of people including security forces were killed and 20,000 arrested over their participation in what the authorities have described as "riots" fomented by the West.

The popular protests presented the biggest challenge to the ruling regime in 43 years.



UK’s Heathrow Defends Decision to Shut Airport Amid Blame Game 

A girl holds a balloon as people walk at Terminal 2 of the Heathrow International Airport, a day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out the power at the airport, near London, Britain, March 22, 2025. (Reuters)
A girl holds a balloon as people walk at Terminal 2 of the Heathrow International Airport, a day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out the power at the airport, near London, Britain, March 22, 2025. (Reuters)
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UK’s Heathrow Defends Decision to Shut Airport Amid Blame Game 

A girl holds a balloon as people walk at Terminal 2 of the Heathrow International Airport, a day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out the power at the airport, near London, Britain, March 22, 2025. (Reuters)
A girl holds a balloon as people walk at Terminal 2 of the Heathrow International Airport, a day after a fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out the power at the airport, near London, Britain, March 22, 2025. (Reuters)

Britain's Heathrow defended its decision to shut down operations at Europe's busiest airport last Friday as the blame game intensified over an 18-hour closure which cost airlines tens of millions of pounds and stranded thousands of passengers.

As questions mounted over how such a critical part of Britain's infrastructure could fail and whether all Heathrow's four terminals needed to shut, both National Grid and Heathrow agreed that the failure of the transformer was an unprecedented event.

But the airport was forced to defend its closure after the boss of National Grid told the Financial Times that the electricity transmission network remained capable of providing power to the airport throughout the crisis.

Heathrow said the fire at a nearby substation late on Thursday interrupted its operations, forcing it to shut while it reconfigured systems and switched to power from an alternative substation.

"Hundreds of critical systems across the airport were required to be safely powered down and then safely and systematically rebooted," a Heathrow spokesperson said.

"Given Heathrow's size and operational complexity, safely restarting operations after a disruption of this magnitude was a significant challenge."

John Pettigrew, the CEO of National Grid, said there were two other substations able to provide power to Heathrow, showing that the grid was resilient.

"Two substations were always available for the distribution network companies and Heathrow to take power," he told the FT.

While airlines such as British Airways, the worse affected, add up the bill for the closure, the government and Heathrow have both commissioned reviews into what happened.

"It's really important that we do learn the lessons from this, and that's why I think those two reviews...are going to be really critical," Transport Minister Heidi Alexander told Sky News on Monday.

Asked on LBC Radio about whether she had confidence in Heathrow's CEO Thomas Woldbye, Alexander said she wanted to see the results of the reviews.