IRANIAN JOURNALIST FACES TRIAL FOR CHARGES RELATED TO AMINI PROTESTS

Iranian journalists Niloufar Hamedi, left, and Elaheh Mohammadi, right.

Mon 29 May 2023:

An Iranian journalist has gone on trial behind closed doors on accusations related to her coverage of the funeral of a Kurdish-Iranian woman whose death in detention last year sparked months of instability, her lawyer told ILNA news agency.

The death of Mahsa Amini, 22, while in the custody of the morality police for allegedly breaching Iran’s Islamic dress code, sparked months of large protests across the country, posing the most serious challenge to Iran’s clerical leaders in decades.

Elaheh Mohammadi, a reporter for the pro-reform Hammihan newspaper, was on trial in Tehran on Monday, along with Niloofar Hamedi of the Sharq newspaper, for “colluding with hostile powers” in their coverage of Amini’s killing.

Under Iranian law, the charge carries the death penalty.

In October, Iran’s intelligence ministry issued a joint statement accusing Mohammadi and Hamedi of being CIA foreign operatives.

Hamedi took a photo of Amini’s parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma.

Mohammadi covered Amini’s funeral in her Kurdish hometown Saqez, where the protests began. Iran accused its foreign foes of igniting the protests to destabilise the country.

The two journalists, who have been jailed in Iran’s notorious Evin prison since September, will face separate trials. According to the judiciary, Hamedi’s trial will begin on Tuesday.

“The trial of Elaheh Mohammadi went well. The date of the next session will be announced by the court,” her lawyer, Shahabeddin Mirlohi, told ILNA. He was not immediately available for comment.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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