By Pishtaz | 2023-10-27

The Iranian judiciary has handed down lengthy prison sentences to two female journalists who first covered the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022 after convicting them on charges widely considered as baseless.

Amini died in custody of the regime's "morality police" after allegedly violating rules on coverage. Her death sparked nationwide protests that swelled into the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement and gained wide international support.

Iran's Lower Court on October 22 found Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloofar Hamedi guilty of "collaborating with the hostile United States government, conspiring against national security, and anti-state propaganda."

Both have repeatedly denied the judiciary's accusations.

The two women were among the first journalists to cover the news of Amini's death, and were arrested within a week of each other. They have been incarcerated in Tehran's notorious Evin prison for over a year.

If the Lower Court's sentence is upheld in the Appeals Court, Mohammadi, a journalist for Hammihan daily, would serve up to 12 years in prison.

Hamedi, who worked for Shargh daily, would have to spend 13 years in prison if the Appeals Court approves her sentence.

The sentences may be appealed within 20 days of their issuance.

Amnesty International protested the sentences and called on Iran to immediately release the two journalists, Radio Farda reported. It described the legal process carried out for Mohammadi and Hamedi as "extremely unfair."

Defamatory documentary

On October 23, Iran's state-owned television station (IRIB) aired a documentary film focused on the two journalists titled Khabarchin (The Informant).

The documentary details their alleged "collaboration with foreign-based feminist organizations," including the "Harassment Watch" website, based overseas, which it describes as espionage.

Narrated in an accusatory tone with biting language, the film, also aired on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) affiliated Fars News, accuses the two journalists of working with foreign forces who aim to change the regime in Iran.

It is noteworthy, viewers of the film have observed, that regime intelligence forces had apparently accessed all conversations and messages that the two women had exchanged with sources.

The messages and conversations shown in the documentary allegedly were exchanged while the journalists covered the aftermath of Amini's death and investigated the conditions under which she died.

A few of these recorded conversations that appear in the film are between Mohammadi or Hamedi and Amini's family members after her hospitalization and also after her death, as they try to uncover the facts.

Also among these conversations, which regime agents evidently monitored in real time, was one that the journalists had with a foreign-based source, whom the documentary describes as a spy.

The film repeatedly accuses the two journalists of fomenting unrest by triggering the public through false reporting and distortion of real events.

Mohammadi's husband Saeed Parsaee responded to the documentary on his Instagram page, saying in part that the conversations and messages revealed in the film were biased and edited and violated the journalists' privacy.

'Journalism is actually a crime'

"'Journalism is not a crime' is a sentence that is frequently repeated across the world," an Iranian newspaper editor who has worked in the profession for 24 years told Pishtaz, on condition of anonymity.

"In Iran, however, journalism is actually a crime, as the court sentences issued for Niloofar and Elaheh prove," he said.

"And I'm not the only journalist in Iran who is thinking about this sentence these days. Almost all of my colleagues and friends are of the same mind," he added.

A few months after Mohammadi and Hamedi were arrested, Iran's judiciary claimed that the two journalists had been detained and held for "being in touch with the United States government."

It claimed the pair "have not been jailed because of their news coverage."

Both journalists have denied the claim in their court sessions. They were tried separately, behind closed doors. Last November, they were charged with "propaganda against the state and conspiring against national security."

"Being a journalist in Iran means being in a perpetual state of uncertainty, and not knowing whether you have a job the following day," said a seasoned Iran-based journalist and author, who did not wish to be named.

"Our crime as Iranian journalists is being journalists," said the managing editor of an Iranian magazine, who asked Pishtaz that her name be withheld out of concern for her security.

"Iranian journalists have neither job security, nor physical or online safety."

"After over 18 years of working as an editor, and a total of 28 years of working as a journalist, I'm never sure if I'll have a job next month, because I have no idea if the government would allow my magazine to remain active after each issue is published," she said.

"The regime's censorship has gotten much more severe under [Iranian president Ebrahim] Raisi's administration. I honestly am at a loss to understand the rules; there is no rhyme or reason to the regime's sensitivities," she added.

Global acclaim

Time Magazine named Mohammadi and Hamedi among the 100 most influential people of 2023, and the two were chosen for the 2023 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

On May 2, the pair were awarded the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

In July, the US-based National Press Club named Hamedi and Mohammadi as the 2023 international honorees for its press freedom award -- the John Aubuchon Award.

Elaborating on their selection, fellows of the Nieman Foundation stated, "Hamedi and Mohammadi put their livelihoods and lives on the line, and lost their freedom in the process."

"They knew the grave risks they might face but remained committed to telling Amini's story. Journalists in Iran are risking their lives on a daily basis to report on the conditions and oppression there."