LYesterday seemed to be marked by a little positive news. Journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who reported the death of Mahsa Amini and who for this had been sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison, had been released on bail (100 billion rials, approximately 200 thousand euros) after 17 months in Evin prison, in Iran.
From Narges Mohammadi to Niloofar and Elaheh, the women on trial in Iran
A temporary release, until the Court of Appeals sits. But it was enough for the photos and videos of the two journalists finally free and with their heads uncovered to appear on social media for the Iranian judiciary to open a new case against them.
Hamedi, 36 years old, photojournalist for the reformist daily Shargh and Mohammadi, 31 years old, reporter for the reformist daily Ham-Mihan, they are accused of «connection with a hostile state (the United States)”, “collection and collusion against national security” and “propaganda against the system”.
In essence, they were condemned for having made known to the world, with their articles, the story of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurd who died in custody, arrested because she was not wearing the Islamic veil correctly. Among the various “crimes” committed by Hamedi, spreading on social media the photograph of the father and grandmother in tears after hearing about the death of Mahsa Amini, with the caption: “The black dress of mourning has become our national flag.”
The trial against the Nobel Peace Prize winner
Yesterday also announced a new sentence for the Iranian activistto Narges Mohammadi, 51 years old, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023: another fifteen months in prison for her on charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran” which increase his sentence to 12 years and three months in prison.
Twelve years and three months in prison plus 154 lashes, a two-year travel ban, a two-year ban on membership of political groups and a two-year ban about using a smartphone. The court’s verdict also bans her from the capital Tehran, meaning she will likely have to serve her new sentence in another province of Iran.
Narges Mohammadi’s family, the two children who grew up without her
A new trial against her was held in her absence on December 19, 2023, and the conviction was the fifth since 2021 (the year she was imprisoned in Evin)«three of which were due to his activities inside the prison”. His family made this known on Monday 15 January: “The sentence resembles a political declaration against Mohammadi.”
Ali and Kiana Rahmani, children of Narges Mohammadi, during the Nobel Prize award ceremony in December (Photo by Sergei Gapon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Narges Mohammadi has two children, Ali and Kiana, 17-year-old twins, who he didn’t see grow up. The boys haven’t seen their mother since 2015, when they left Iran to live in exile in France with their father, the activist Taghi Rahmani. They haven’t been able to talk to her for about 21 months.
Iran, the home front and foreign policy
In recent days the data have also been published Final balance 2023 by Hands Off Cain, on capital executions around the world. In Iran in the calendar year 2023 there were at least 878. A record figure: only in China were there more.
A sign that the repression of protests on the domestic front has not eased at all even if the situation is no longer in the spotlight like it was a few months ago.
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