Fear of harsh punishment: Iran is taking another journalist to the Revolutionary Court

class=”sc-29f61514-0 kHgAwW”>

Shargh newspaper reporter Nilufar Hamedi was scheduled to appear on Tuesday for a trial before a revolutionary court in the capital Tehran, her husband Mohammed Hussein Adschorlu reported on Twitter. The 30-year-old was arrested more than eight months ago at the start of protests against the leadership of the Islamic Republic. The trial of journalist Elaheh Mohammadi of the Hammihan newspaper only started on Monday.

Last fall, the two women were among the first to report the death of young Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini, sparking a massive wave of protests in Iran. They are accused of collaboration with foreign secret services and propaganda against the state. Your newspapers vehemently deny the allegations. Hamedi also defended herself against the allegations in court, as reported by her husband. The processes are not public.

Hamedi published a photo in mid-September that went around the world. It shows Amini’s parents hugging in a hospital shortly after their daughter’s death. Morale guards had forcibly arrested the young woman because of an allegedly ill-fitting headscarf. She fell into a coma and died shortly afterwards. Her death sparked the most serious protests in Iran in decades. The state took extreme measures against this.

In the newspaper “Hammihan”, Mohammadi’s lawyer Schahab Mirlohi criticized the procedure. The defense didn’t have enough time to prepare. Moreover, he was not allowed to be heard in the beginning. Lawyers also criticized the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Court, which deals with national security issues. They demanded a trial in a criminal court, which should also be public.

There is a great fear that the women will be punished severely. Hearings are taking place before a notorious revolutionary court in Tehran. If the journalists are found guilty of espionage, they could face the death penalty. Propaganda against the state provides for a prison sentence of several years. Details of the charges are not yet known. Unesco awarded both women their press freedom prize in absentia at the beginning of May.

A look at data from New York’s Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) shows just how fierce the state cracked down on the media during the protests. According to this, nearly 100 media representatives were arrested. Most of them are now out on bail again.

(SDA)

Source: Blick