Sophie Robinson
At least 17 female journalists have been arrested in Iran since anti-government protests started in September of last year.
When did the Iran protests begin?
Iran has been gripped by political unrest since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on 16th September 2022, three days after she was arrested by the “morality police”. The recent social resistance has become one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Almost 20,000 people are estimated to have been detained since the protests began, and more than 520 protestors have been killed by security forces, according to the Iranian Human Rights Activists’ News Agency (Hrana).
“Even in small towns and local newspapers women were reporting on the women-led protests that were taking place.”
Yeganeh Rezaian, a researcher with the Washington-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told the BBC: “We’re seeing an unusual number of female journalists being arrested because what sparked the protests was the mandatory hijab law and the death of a young woman because of gender discrimination”.
She continued: “Naturally more female journalists were covering the story. Even in small towns and local newspapers women were reporting on the women-led protests that were taking place.”
#Niloofar_Hamedi was arrested at the end of summer after being accused of allegedly reporting #Mahsa_Amini‘s murder. Now her husband, #MohammadHosseinAjorlou, another #journalist, is fired from @IrnaEnglish after 13 years of working there. The regime is set to implement… https://t.co/UDRyi4vI4S pic.twitter.com/0UcnLoD6xG
— Ali Dadpay 🇺🇦 (@ADadpay) February 21, 2023
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), an international group which advocates for journalistic freedom, claim that seventeen female journalists have been arrested since the beginning of the protests, the highest number in a five month period in the history of the Islamic Republic.
“A 1986 press law means that authorities should ensure that journalists do not “endanger the Islamic Republic””
Elnaz Mohammadi was the most recent female journalist to be arrested, a reporter for the reformist newspaper Hammihan. She was released on bail on Sunday 12th February.
Journalist #ElnazMohammadi was released from prison today in Tehran. Although her twin sister #ElahehMohammadi, a reporter who wrote on #MahsaAmini’s killing, is still in prison, along w 1000s other prisoners of conscious. The high spirit & the smile is very telling. #مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/1CFMwHBmQh
— Omid Memarian (@Omid_M) February 12, 2023
Nazila Maroofian was the first journalist to publish an interview with Mahsa Amini’s father, however on 28th January she tweeted that she had been sentenced to two years in prison, fined and banned from leaving Iran for five years.
Article 24 of Iran’s constitution guarantees press freedom, however a later amended 1986 press law means that authorities should ensure that journalists do not “endanger the Islamic Republic” and do not “offend the clergy and the Supreme Leader”.
Journalists in Iran are barred from covering the current protests or the funerals of those killed by security forces.
Featured Image courtesy of Neil Webb via Unsplash. License can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
