Two Iranian journalists face new judicial charges for not covering their hair just a day after their release from prison for their coverage of the infamous killing of the Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in Iran.
Elaheh Mohammadi (36) and Niloofar Hamedi (31) posed for pictures outside Evin prison in Tehran without hijabs and flashed victory signs. “After footage of the defendants without hijab was released online, a new case has been filed against them,” the Islamic Republic judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, said on Monday.
The Iranian journalists flouted the country’s strict hijab laws when they were celebrating their release with family and hundreds of supporters outside the prison where they were serving sentences of 13 and 12 years before being released on a bail of $193,000. Photos and videos of the two were widely circulated on social media and the Iranian journalists were subsequently charged by the country’s judiciary.
“Both journalists are banned from leaving the country”, Mizan said.
The two Iranian journalists were temporarily released after about 16 months of imprisonment for their coverage of Mahsa Amini’s murder.
Amini’s killing
22 year old Mahsa Amini was travelling to Tehran in September 2022 when the country’s “morality police” arrested her for not adhering to the strict dress code of the Islamic State. The Kurdish woman was severely tortured in custody and announced dead three days later at a hospital. However, Iranian authorities denied the claim and said her death was due to an undisclosed medical condition.
The killing triggered mass protests in the country and led to hundreds of killings, detentions and in some cases even executions. It also inspired a global freedom movement “Woman, Life, Freedom” calling for an end to Iran’s strict laws against women.
Iranian journalists’ coverage of the killing
Mohammedi and Hamedi were the first journalists to cover the brutal killing of Amini. Hamedi went to the Tehran hospital where Amini was admitted and clicked a photo of her parents embracing while Amini lay in a coma.
She posted the photo on X (formerly Twitter) where it garnered attention as it was the first mention of the case in the media. Days later Hamedi was arrested.
Mohammadi went to Amini’s hometown sanghez in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan to cover her funeral. She too was arrested. The widespread protests and riots were one of the most brutal crackdowns in the country’s history. The Iranian journalists were finally charged back in October 2023 for conspiring against the state and spreading propaganda and collaborating with an enemy state (the US).
The European Parliament awarded the 2023 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Amini but her family was not allowed to travel to receive the award. Meanwhile the country has also extended the sentence of Nobel peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi by 15 months for propaganda against the state. She was charged after leading protests in the country following Amini’s death.
Iran’s strict hijab rule dates back to 1981 when it became compulsory for women to cover their heads with a headscarf.