The Iranian regime sentenced Narges Mohammadi, the jailed human rights activist who acquired the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, to fifteen extra months in jail, her household mentioned on Monday.
The information got here a day after Iran launched the journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi on bail whereas they enchantment their sentences, based on state media. They’d been jailed for their coverage of a younger lady whose loss of life sparked a nationwide protest movement that challenged the nation’s system of authoritarian clerical rule. Prosecutors filed a brand new grievance in opposition to the ladies on Monday.
The journalists helped break the story of Mahsa Amini, 22, who died within the custody of Iran’s morality police in September 2022 after being arrested on costs of violating Iran’s religiously conservative gown code.
Ms. Hamedi, 31, reported for the Iranian each day newspaper Shargh from the hospital the place the younger lady lay dying and shared a photograph of her grieving kin that went viral on social media. She was arrested days after Ms. Amini’s loss of life, and Ms. Mohammadi, who had lined her funeral for the newspaper Hammihan, was arrested per week after that, as protests swept Iran.
Each girls were charged with conspiring with international intelligence companies to undermine nationwide safety, in addition to spreading propaganda, and spent months in detention. After closed-door trials, they have been sentenced in October — Ms. Hamedi to 13 years in jail and Ms. Mohammadi to 12 years.
Narges Mohammadi, 51, has spent many of the final decade out and in of jail, charged with “spreading anti-state propaganda” — a part of Iran’s lengthy marketing campaign to silence and punish her for her activism.
Her household mentioned a brand new trial was held Dec. 19 with out her current, and the sentence was her fifth conviction since 2021. In complete, her household mentioned, she has been sentenced to greater than 12 years in jail, 154 lashes, 4 months’ journey ban and two years’ exile.
“The judgment resembles a political assertion in opposition to Narges Mohammadi, emphasizing accusations that she repeatedly incites and encourages public and particular person opinions in opposition to the Islamic regime to sow chaos and disturbances,” her household wrote on the platform Threads.
However her imprisonment has not stopped her, though she has suffered extreme well being issues, together with a coronary heart assault. She has remained one of the vital outspoken critics of Iran’s authorities.
In response to a major uprising, led by women, that rocked Iran after Ms. Amini died, Narges Mohammadi organized jail protests, wrote opinion items and led weekly workshops for feminine inmates about their rights.
Video posted on the Instagram account of the journalist Elaheh Mohammadi’s sister confirmed the 2 launched journalists leaving Tehran’s infamous Evin Jail and strolling hand in hand towards their husbands, colleagues and pals who have been operating uphill to greet them. As all of them hugged, the gang chanted, “Freedom, freedom, freedom.”
Pals additionally posted photographs on social media of the journalists strolling down the road with fingers raised within the victory signal — with the hair of each girls falling loosely, in violation of Iran’s religiously conservative dress code.
The official response was swift: On Monday, Mizan, a information company overseen by Iran’s judiciary, reported that prosecutors had filed a brand new grievance in opposition to the journalists, accusing them of breaking the hijab legislation. That laws requires girls to cowl their hair and put on lengthy, unfastened clothes that hides the form of their our bodies. That’s what initially led to the arrest of Ms. Amini.
The morality police who detained Ms. Amini took her to a middle for re-educating girls on the legislation governing gown earlier than she was hospitalized. The Iranian authorities has mentioned that she died whereas in custody due to underlying medical points. Her household has mentioned that she had no well being points, and that she died as a result of the police beat her.
A photo of Ms. Amini in a coma within the hospital with blood dripping from her ear and tubes in her mouth went viral. No impartial investigation was performed.
Ms. Amini’s loss of life outraged Iranians already livid with their authorities over many years of social and political repression, in addition to financial mismanagement and corruption, igniting monthslong protests. Tens of 1000’s of individuals took to the streets throughout Iran, together with many ladies who ripped off their headscarves and burned them in bonfires. The rebellion — known as the “Mahsa motion” in homage to Ms. Amini — morphed into essentially the most severe problem to the legitimacy of Iran’s ruling clerics since they took energy in 1979.
Iran’s authorities cracked down, and by early 2023 had quelled the protests by power, arresting nearly 20,000 people and killing more than 500, based on human rights teams. No less than seven arrested protesters have been later executed, and others are nonetheless dealing with the loss of life penalty.
Nonetheless, many ladies have continued to defy the hijab legislation, particularly in bigger cities, by preserving their hair uncovered and carrying Western-style clothes in public. In response, the federal government has tried a wide range of measures to enforce the legislation, together with shutting down companies that flip a blind eye to clients’ gown code violations and banning banks and authorities places of work from serving such girls.
In September, the Iranian Parliament accepted a invoice that elevated the penalties for girls who refused to put on the hijab, imposing massive fines and jail time for violators.
On Monday, the photographs of the 2 journalists with their hair uncovered drew approving feedback on social media from Iranians who noticed them as symbols of defiance towards the federal government. Ms. Amini’s family members joined in celebrating their freedom.
“The information of your launch after 4 hundred days of putting up with jail and being away from your loved ones made us all joyful and sweetened our palates,” Ms. Amini’s father, Amjad Amini, wrote on Instagram on Sunday. “I sincerely congratulate you and your courageous and affected person household on this treasured freedom.”
