Iranian journalist Niloufar Hamedi specializes in reporting on women’s issues. So when her editor noticed an Instagram post about a young woman in hospital in dire condition after being arrested for violating the country’s strict Muslim dress code, Miss Hamedi went straight there.
She found the woman’s relative, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, hugging each other in a fluorescent-lit area inside Tehran’s Kasra Hospital. She took one image and posted it on Twitter – and then it went viral. It was September 16, the day Amini died.
anti-government Demonstration quickly spread across Iran, igniting chants of “women, life, freedom” and they rocked the country for months. But Ms. Hamedi, 30, was not there to witness it: She was arrested days after Amini’s death.
A week later, 36-year-old Elaheh Mohammadi – a journalist who had come to Amini’s hometown, Saghez, to cover her funeral – was also taken into custody. After more than eight months in detention, both journalists went to court last week on charges of colluding with foreign intelligence agencies to undermine national security.
Amir Hossein, a journalist based in Tehran, said: “Both were full of life and passion, and they fought with their journalism to improve the lives and status of women in Iran. . “Instead of investigating the cause and people behind Mahsa Amini’s death,” he added, “the regime started blaming the journalists who brought the case to light in the first place.”
“What can I say?” Mr. Hossein said. “That’s the reality of journalism in Iran.”
The months-long protests have gone up in smoke and quelled by violence. government repression killed at least 573 people, according to human rights groups. But for many of those involved, one official count continues: Authorities have Enforcement seven protesters, and at least eight others are being executed. At least 95 journalists have been arrested, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Ms. Hamedi and Ms. Mohammadi have won widespread sympathy and acclaim in the West, even making it to Time magazine’s 100 list. the most influential people This year.
“We rarely hear details” about the regime’s mistreatment of Iranian citizens, the citation read. Because of their reporting, it added, “This time was different.”
At home, however, Iranian officials make prosecuting the two women a top priority.
A joint statement by Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence after the arrest accused them of inciting people to protest, claiming they were trained agents of hostile countries. to publish inciting reports about Amini’s death in order to incite chaos.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the statement “meaningful”.
Closed trials for both women began last month in the revolutionary courts, which the government uses to prosecute sensitive security-related cases. Little is known from the proceedings, but Ms Hamedi’s husband, Mohamad Hossein Ajorlou, and Ms Mohammadi’s lawyer have said that lawyers for the journalists have been barred from speaking in their defense.
Ajorlou, who is also a journalist, said no family members were allowed to attend.
Ms Hamedi denied the charges against her during her first trial, saying she was simply doing the job of a journalist, her husband wrote on Twitter.
More than 500 Iranian journalists have signed a petition calling on the court to respect the legal rights of women. But many are afraid to speak to The New York Times about their cases, and a few have asked to be identified only by their names because of concerns about the government’s consequences.
Asal, 31, a former reporter for the daily Shargh, where Hamedi works, said: “These two journalists have become icons of professional journalism in Iran in the face of all restrictions and censorship. “Prisoning them is not just imprisoning two journalists, but imprisoning professional journalists in Iran.”
Both reporters spent years preparing for what looked like Amini’s death.
Ms. Hamedi, who was born in the northern Iranian city of Babolsar and holds a master’s degree in physical education, worked as a sports reporter for the first time. That led her to articles about Iran’s ban on women from sports stadiums, which is consistent with the government’s hardline resolve to uphold women’s modesty, preventing supporters from attending. Female athletes watch live football and other sports.
She developed an appetite and talent for women’s rights articles.
One check Discrimination, restriction and domestic violence have contributed to some Iranian women setting themselves on fire. Another person digs into Iran’s underground market for illegal abortion and the risks women face to get them.
Ms. Mohammadi, from the city of Shahin Shahr in central Iran, majored in Persian literature as a university student and earned a master’s degree in gender studies. As a journalist for newspapers and news websites, she has traveled to some of the most remote parts of the country, interviewing women about their experiences.
Her most famous work depicts sexual harassment and violence against women.
These days, confined in the Gharchak-Varamin prison, the women have nothing to do but tie knots. bracelet of colorful themes for friends and family.
Ms. Mohammadi has lost more than 20 pounds in custody, according to her sister Elnaz Mohammadi’s Instagram post, but she remains optimistic.
According to a fellow inmate, Hamedi is always busy practicing yoga, meditation and running, activities she often does with her husband.
In January, Mr Ajorlou tweeted a photo of his wife smiling by a pan of homemade pizza, along with a recording of the call she made from prison. She was reading him a diary entry, as she always did, about baking cheesecakes for her fellow inmates.
“Here,” she said, “in the Gharchak-Varamin prison, life still finds us.”
In March, her husband wrote that he ran a marathon in her honor.
“Niloufar believes that enduring prison is like training for a marathon,” he speak. “Suffering every day. But imagining the joy of finishing will erase all the pain.”
Five months after his wife was imprisoned, Mr. Ajorlou posted a dismissal letter he said he had received from IRNA, an Iranian state news agency, after 13 years working there. The letter, according to a screenshot, said the agency no longer needed his services.
