TEHRAN: Two female Iranian journalists will spend around a month behind bars as part of a three-year partly suspended prison sentence for “conspiracy” and “collusion,” local media reported on Sunday.
Under the sentence, Negin Bagheri and Elnaz Mohammadi will serve one-fortieth of the term, or less than a month, in prison, their lawyer Amir Raisian told the reformist Ham Mihan daily newspaper, where Mohammadi works.
“The remaining period is suspended over five years,” during which time they will be required to take “a professional ethics training” and “prohibited from leaving the country,” the lawyer added.
Raisian did not elaborate on whether the verdict can be appealed, and the report did not detail the allegations against the reporters.
Mohammadi’s sister, Elahe, who also works for Ham Mihan, has since September 2022 been in prison after reporting on the funeral of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died in police custody.
The death on September 16, 2022 of Amini, an Iranian Kurd, came after her arrest for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code, triggering months-long nationwide protests.
Foreign-based rights groups have reported multiple arrests ahead of the anniversary of Amini’s death.
Bagheri works for the unaffiliated Haft-e Sobh newspaper.
Elnaz Mohammadi was arrested and kept in Evin prison for a week in February. The reason for her detention was not clear.
Last year’s demonstrations saw hundreds of people killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested in connection with what officials labelled as foreign-instigated “riots.”
Seven men have been executed in protest-related cases involving killings and other violence against security forces.
Local media reported last month that authorities in Iran have questioned or arrested more than 90 journalists since the protests.
On Wednesday, an Iranian news agency reported that journalist Nazila Maroufian, who defied Iran’s strict dress code and was freed on bail earlier in August, has been rearrested for not wearing the headscarf in public.
Iran sentences two women journalists to jail time
https://arab.news/bc9zf
Iran sentences two women journalists to jail time
- Under the sentence, Negin Bagheri and Elnaz Mohammadi will serve one-fortieth of the term, or less than a month, in prison, lawyer says
- Mohammadi’s sister, Elahe, who worked for Ham Mihan daily, has been in prison since 2022 after reporting on the funeral of Mahsa Amini
Thousands stage pro-Gaza rally in Istanbul
- Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory
ISTANBUL: Thousands joined a New Year’s Day rally for Gaza in Istanbul Thursday, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and calling for an end to the violence in the tiny war-torn territory.
Demonstrators gathered in freezing temperatures under cloudless blue skies to march to the city’s Galata Bridge for a rally under the slogan: “We won’t remain silent, we won’t forget Palestine,” an AFP reporter at the scene said.
More than 400 civil society organizations were present at the rally, one of whose organizers was Bilal Erdogan, the youngest son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Police sources and Anadolou state news agency said some 500,000 people had joined the march at which there were speeches and a performance by Lebanese-born singer Maher Zain of his song “Free Palestine.”
“We are praying that 2026 will bring goodness for our entire nation and for the oppressed Palestinians,” said Erdogan, who chairs the board of the Ilim Yayma Foundation, an educational charity that was one of the organizers of the march.
Turkiye has been one of the most vocal critics of the war in Gaza and helped broker a recent ceasefire that halted the deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented attack on October 7, 2023.
But the fragile October 10 ceasefire has not stopped the violence with more than more than 400 Palestinians killed since it took hold.
