The spokesman of the Iranian Judiciary, Massoud Setayeshi, told reporters today, August 1, 2023, “The accusation of two journalists, Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, has nothing to do with the report on the death of Ms. Mahsa Amini and their journalistic career. The two defendants had cooperated with the US hostile government at times.”
Massoud Setayeshi said, “On July 26, 2023, the defendants’ last defense was taken in court, and the defendant’s lawyers asked for a three-day opportunity to present their defense bill. They presented the bill to the court on Saturday, July 30, and the verdict is being drafted.” (The state-run Entekhab newspaper, August 1, 2023)
The Judiciary’s spokesman had previously listed the charges against Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi as “collaborating with hostile governments, participating in a collusion against national security, and engaging in propaganda against the state.” (The state-run Mizan news agency, April 26, 2023)
Niloufar Hamedi, a photojournalist for Shargh newspaper, took and published the first photo of Mahsa Amini in a coma at the hospital. Elaheh Mohammadi, a journalist for Ham-Mihan newspaper, published a report on Mahsa’s funeral and an interview with her father.
Niloufar Hamedi was arrested by security forces at her home on September 22, 2022, and was transferred to Evin prison. In late December 2022, she was transferred to Qarchak prison in Varamin.
Elaheh Mohammadi was arrested by security forces in Tehran on September 23, 2022, and was transferred to Qarchak prison in Varamin.
Nazila Maroofian arraigned on her charges
Nazila Maroofian, a 23-year-old journalist from Saqqez, was arraigned on her charges today, August 1, 2023, by the second branch of the Evin Prosecutor’s Office. Her charges are “propaganda against the state” and “assembly and collusion against national security.” In the same session, the last defense was taken from her.
Nazila Maroofian, a student at Tehran’s Allameh Tabatabai University and a young journalist for Rouydad 24, was arrested on October 30, 2022, by order of the Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office based in Evin Prison in Tehran.
She was arrested for publishing her interviews with the father of Mahsa Amini on the Rouydad 24 website in October and November 2022. She was confined in Ward 209 of Evin. She was eventually transferred to Qarchak Prison and released on bail after a while.
She was jailed after reporting to the first branch of Evin Courthouse on Saturday, July 8, 2023.
On Tuesday, July 4, 2023, the Ministry of Intelligence agents searched her house. They confiscated some of her digital devices, including her mobile phone and laptop.
Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Nazila Maroofian to two years and other supplementary punishments in February 2023. The prison sentence for Ms. Maroofian was suspended for five years.
On June 20, 2023, agents of the SSF Special Units badly brutalized her in Tehran’s City Theatre and dragged her to the ground.
