Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced two journalists to 8 years and six months in prison. Saeedeh Shafiei and Nasim Sultan Beigi were each sentenced to 8 months in prison on the charge of “propaganda against the state” and three years and seven months in prison on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security.”
Saeedeh Shafiei and Nasim Sultan Beigi were also sentenced to two years of ban on membership in political and social groups and organizations and two years of ban on leaving the country as additional punishments.
Mehrnoush Zarei Hanzaki, the third defendant in this case, was acquitted.
The hearing on the accusations of these journalists was held on July 3, 2023, in Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, which mainly focused on the content written by them. But in the middle of the proceedings, the judge brought up the issue of their opposition to mandatory hijab, which led to a controversy, and the judge insulted them. This issue was not among the accusations brought against the three journalists.
Saeedeh Shafiei, a writer and independent journalist, was arrested on January 22, 2023, by security forces at her home in Tehran. She was temporarily released on bail of 500 million tomans until the end of her trial on February 7, 2023.
Saeedeh Shafiei is a novelist and a journalist in the field of economics. She has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran and a master’s degree in energy economics and marketing of hydrocarbon resources from Azad University, Tehran branch.
Nasim Sultan Beigi, a former student activist and journalist, was arrested by IRGC intelligence officers at the airport on January 11, 2023. They confiscated her passport and transferred her to Evin prison. She was temporarily released on bail on February 6, 2023, until the end of her trial.
Nasim Sultan Beigi has a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences from Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, a former student activist and social journalist.
Mehrnoush Zarei Hanzaki, a social journalist for various news agencies, was arrested by security forces in Tehran on January 22, 2023, and transferred to the IRGC Intelligence’s detention center in Evin Prison, Ward 2A. She was temporarily released on bail from Evin prison on February 14, 2023.
The clerical regime has recently increased the treatment of reporters and journalists and issued heavy sentences against journalists.
