Journalists Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamidi, convicted in Iran for reporting on the case of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, have had their cases reviewed. Iranian judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir said at a news conference on Sunday that the two women had had their sentences reduced to “one year imprisonment for ‘propaganda activities against the state’ and five years for ‘conspiring against the security of the state’,” according to RojNews.
Mohammadi and Hamidi were the first journalists to report on the murder and funeral of Amini, killed at the hands of Iran’s morality police in September 2022. The journalists published details of the young Kurdish woman’s beating in police custody and subsequent death, after she had been arrested for wearing her head dress improperly.
Amini’s killing triggered nationwide protests, and the pair were initially charged with “spying for the CIA”, before being incarcerated in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on various charges. The two women were sentenced to 12 and 13 years respectively, but appealed and released on bail in January of this year after 17 months in prison.
“They were acquitted of the charge of collaboration with the US in the appeal court,” said Jahangir at the news conference, as he announced the reduction in their sentences.
Mahommadi and Hamidi were two of the recipients of UNESCO’s Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Award in 2023, along with their colleague Narges Mohammadi.
