Iran Dismisses Sexual Assault Claims of Jailed Journalist

Iran Dismisses Sexual Assault Claims of Jailed Journalist
TT

Iran Dismisses Sexual Assault Claims of Jailed Journalist

Iran Dismisses Sexual Assault Claims of Jailed Journalist

Iran's judiciary charged Thursday that a female journalist, who said she had been sexually assaulted in prison, failed to "report" or "provide any evidence" in support of her claims.

Nazila Maroufian, 23, has been arrested repeatedly since she interviewed the father of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody in September last year sparked months of nationwide protests.

The judiciary's Mizan Online website said Maroufian's complaint that she was "beaten and assaulted" during her latest stint in Tehran's Evin prison, had been reported by "hostile media".

"The investigations carried out on the allegations show that not only had she not provided any reason or evidence for this claim, but until now has not filed any complaint in this regard," Mizan said, AFP reported.

"Neither Maroufian nor her lawyer filed a complaint in this regard and no report of violence or assault was lodged with prison authorities."

In his interview with Maroufian, Amini's father Amjad accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter's death.

Maroufian, a Tehran-based journalist from Amini's hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province, was first arrested in November, 2022. She was later released.

She was most recently detained on August 30 for not wearing a headscarf in public.

Her latest arrest came around two weeks after she was released on bail after spending more than a month behind bars.

She had posted a photo of herself without a headscarf.

Last year's demonstrations saw hundreds of people killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested in connection with what officials labelled as foreign-instigated "riots".

Authorities have questioned or arrested more than 90 journalists since the protests, Iranian media reported last month.

The two women journalists who published Amini's story, Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, have spent almost a year in Evin prison since their arrest last September.

They have been charged with propaganda against the state and conspiring against national security, and are being tried separately behind closed doors in Tehran.



Netanyahu Prepares Grounds to Dismiss Chief of Staff

Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)
Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)
TT

Netanyahu Prepares Grounds to Dismiss Chief of Staff

Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)
Netanyahu with dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi in October 2023 (dpa)

After the successful ousting of his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing the grounds to dismiss Army chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, reports in Tel Aviv revealed.
The PM’s intentions were visible through a series of preliminary measures. In a nine-minute video statement posted to social media on Saturday, Netanyahu claimed the ongoing investigation into the alleged theft and leak of classified documents, including by his aides, aimed at harming him and “an entire political camp.”
He then asserted that vital classified documents weren’t reaching him. “I am the prime minister. I need to receive important classified documents, and indeed sometimes important information doesn’t reach me.”
Netanyahu then defended his former spokesman Eli Feldstein, who is accused of leaking a classified document in a bid to sway public opinion against a truce-hostage deal in Gaza.
Last Thursday, Feldstein was charged with transferring classified information with the intent to harm the state.
The PM considered accusations against his spokesman as a “witch hunt” against his aides and Israelis who support him.
For the past 14 years, the Israeli right had run a large-scale incitement campaign against the security services. But in the last year, this camp increased its attack, particularly against the Chief of Staff, Halevi, who believes it is necessary to stop the war and ink a deal with Hamas.
The right-wing “Mida” website published a report entitled “Herzi Halevi’s Political Sabotage,” describing the man’s “rising against the Israeli political leadership.”
The report said Halevi's inappropriate behavior started during the first weeks of the war when the Army announced it was “ready for a ground attack,” accusing Netanyahu of delaying such an operation.
Mida then listed several other instances in which it described Netanyahu as a great leader who ordered strong attacks and deep military operations. It then accused the army of refraining from following his orders.
The report concludes that the “freeing of hostages file was the straw that broke the camel's back.”
In an April 2024 speech marking the six-month anniversary of the war, Halevi has said that it is time to end the war in Gaza and reach a prisoner swap deal with Hamas, while Netanyahu took a hardline stance, refusing to compromise on what he called “red lines.”
The Madi website also criticized Halevi for saying that the government was responsible for ordering the army of again operating in Jabalia, a decision that resulted in significant Israeli casualties.
“Halevi should have been dismissed as soon as the government was formed, and this was Netanyahu's mistake. But it is not too late to fix it. You can't win wars with rebel chiefs of staff,” the website wrote.