ALBAWABA - Female journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi who have been jailed in Iranian prisons over breaking Mahsa Amini's story, stand before the Revolutionary Court in charges related to “conspiracy and rebellion against national security”.
The official trial began earlier this week, while both Hamedi and Mohammadi denied charges and said that they were only doing their jobs as journalists. These charges hold a possible death penalty for both journalists.
The two women separately stood trial on Monday and Tuesday in a revolutionary court presided over by notorious judge Abolghasem Salavati, according to Iranian pro-reform outlet SharghDaily, CNN reported.
Ms. Hamedi's problem with Iranian authorities started when she tweeted a picture of Mahsa Amini's dad and grandfather hugging, quoting "The black dress of mourning has become our national flag."
Ms. Mohammadi on the other hand, published an article about Amini's funeral in her hometown. She shed light on the hundreds of protestors chanting "Woman, life, freedom" which later became the slogan for protests all across Iran.
Judiciary's spokesman of the Revolutionary Court said that Ms. Hamedi and Ms. Mohammadi had been charged with "collaborating with the hostile government of America, conspiracy and collusion to commit crimes against national security and propaganda against the establishment".
According to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report, Iranian authorities have imprisoned at least 75 journalists since widespread anti-government protests swept across the country in the days following Amini's death. Seventeen people, including Ms. Hamedi and Ms. Mohammadi, remain imprisoned.
Mahsa Amini died after being arrested by the country's morality police for "not wearing the hijab properly" on Sept. 16, 2022, in Tehran. Amini spent 3 days in the hospital, doctors announced her dead. Amini came to the hospital with visible signs of torture which caused her severe damage that left her body almost paralyzed.
