Following the death of Mahsa Amini, Iran’s authorities have targeted and persecuted journalists, particularly women, who reported on the circumstances of Amini’s death, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which said that 79 journalists, including 31 women, were arrested.
Since the death of Mahsa Amini, Iranian authorities have systematically persecuted the journalists, often young women, who helped expose the case and magnify its resonance in and outside Iran, campaign groups say.
According to the RSF watchdog group, 79 journalists, including 31 women, were arrested in the crackdown. Twelve are still behind bars, RSF said. Particularly targeted were those who reported on the circumstances of Amini’s death.
Almost a week after Amini died, Iranian authorities on September 22 arrested Niloufar Hamedi, 29, a journalist with the reformist Shargh daily who went to the hospital where Amini had been taken. She posted on social media a photo of Amini’s family grieving when her death was confirmed.
Hamedi’s fellow reporter, Elahe Mohammadi, 36, of the Ham Mihan daily, rushed to Amini’s hometown of Saqez in Kurdish-populated western Iran to report on her funeral, which turned into one of the first protests. Mohammadi was in turn arrested on September 29.
Both women have been held in detention ever since, for almost a year. They are now on trial on charges of violating national security, which they vehemently deny.
“Her imprisonment for almost a year illustrates the Islamic Republic’s terrible repression of journalists, and their rejection of press freedom and reliable information,” said Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East desk at Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
In another blow for the Mohammadi family, her twin sister Elnaz, who also works for Ham Mihan and reported on the protests, was earlier this month given a three year partly suspended prison sentence for “conspiracy and collusion”.
In recognition of their work, the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), founded by the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and actor George Clooney, awarded them at this year’s Albies awards.
Weeks after the arrest of Hamedi and Mohammadi, the journalist Nazila Maroufian, now 23, published an interview on the Mostaghel Online news site with Amjad Amini, Mahsa Amini’s father. He accused authorities of lying about the circumstances of his daughter’s death. Maroufian has since been arrested a total of four times, according to rights groups.
On her release, she repeatedly posted a picture of herself without the Islamic headscarf in defiance of Iran’s strict rules for women.
During her latest stint in jail this month, Maroufian said in an audio message that she was sexually assaulted while being arrested and had begun a hunger strike to protest her situation. She was freed on the weekend. This time, Maroufian opted not to post a picture on social media celebrating her release, implying she would be arrested again if she failed to wear a headscarf.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
