loading…
Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi (left) and Elaheh Mohammadi (right) were arrested by Iran in September 2022 for their coverage of the death of Mahsa Amini. Photo/Al Arabiya
TEHERAN – Revolutionary Trial in Iran holds a trial against a female journalist over her coverage of death Mahsa Amini , the Iranian Kurdish woman who died in a Morale police prison last year. The trial was held behind closed doors.
This was revealed by the husband of the female journalist on Twitter.
Mahsa Amini’s death while detained by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code sparked months of mass anti-government protests. The demonstrations are one of the boldest challenges to the country’s clerical leaders in decades.
A photo taken by Niloofar Hamedi for the pro-reform daily Shargh showing Amini’s parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter lay in a coma was the world’s first sign that 22-year-old Amini was not well.
“Tuesday’s hearing ended less than two hours while his lawyers did not get a chance to defend him and members of his family were not allowed to attend court,” Hamedi’s husband, Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou, said on Twitter.
“He denied all the charges against him and stressed that he had performed his duties as a journalist based on the law,” he added as quoted by Al Arabiya, Wednesday (31/5/2023).
Hamedi, along with another female journalist, Elaheh Mohammadi, who was in court on Monday, faces several charges including colluding with hostile forces for their coverage of Amini’s death.
Iran’s intelligence ministry in October accused Mohammadi and Hamedi, both of whom were jailed for more than eight months, of being foreign agents of the CIA.
Iran’s clerical rulers have blamed the protests that have erupted in the country on their enemies, including the United States (US), which aim to destabilize the Islamic Republic.
(ian)
