IRAN LABELS TWO JOURNALISTS WHO BROKE THE NEWS OF MAHSA AMINI’S DEATH AS CIA AGENTS

Two reporters who exposed Mahsa Amini’s killing, Hamedi and Mohammadi.

Sun 30 October 2022:

Iran has accused Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi of being CIA spies for being the first journalists to report on Mahsa Amini, 22, who died while being held by Iran’s morality police.

Both journalists are currently being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, according to a joint statement issued on Saturday by the intelligence ministries of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

Moreover, in the statement, the Iranian regime has blamed the CIA, Mossad and other western intelligence agencies of engineering the mass protests, where at least 234 protesters, including 29 children, have been reportedly killed by security forces in crackdowns.

Both women have been accused of being “primary sources of news for foreign media”, while particularly mentioning Hamed, claiming that she pretended to be a journalist and coerced Amini’s family to release information about their daughter’s death.

Notably, Hamedi was the first journalist to share the photos of Amini who was being treated at the hospital that time. Hamedis’ photos had triggered the first wave of protests in Tehran and soon spread to other cities.

Mohammadi, who was arrested on September 22, has been accused of receiving training as a foreign agent abroad for her reporting from Amini’s funeral in her home town of Saqqez.

The statement has offered no evidence about the two journalists having travelled abroad and received training by spy agencies.

The two intelligence bodies have further accused US of allocating billions of dollars every year to find elements in Iran and connect them to “Western networks under the cover of human rights activities and promotion of democracy.”

The statement has sent shockwaves across the Iranian media, who fear further repression in the coming days. More than 40 journalists have been detained since the protests erupted over a month ago.

“They’re closely monitoring us and I have been advised to cut all ties with foreign correspondents. I have received calls from abroad on my cellphone and if they monitor my phone records and find that someone from the west was calling, even if it’s a friend, that’ll be a huge risk,” a print journalist for an Iranian publication told the Guardian.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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