12th April 2023
The Committee for the Defence of the Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR) has called for the immediate release of journalists, Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi. The two women have been imprisoned by the regime in Iran since September 2022 on alleged charges of espionage.
The only ‘crime’ committed by the two journalists however was to report on the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, who was killed by the so called ‘morality police’, for allegedly not adhering to Iran’s stringent hijab laws.
Hamedi wrote for the reformist newspaper Shargh and was the first journalist to report on the death of Amini, doing so from the hospital in Tehran where Amini had been on life support. Mohammadi had reported on the protests at Amini’s funeral in her hometown of Saqez in northwest Kurdistan province.
These imprisonments are part of an increasing pattern of persecution of journalists in Iran since the emergence of the Women, Life, Freedom movement which emerged after Amini’s murder. More than seventy journalists have been imprisoned in Iran since the protests began last September, almost half of whom are women.
While the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran formally recognises freedom of expression and freedom of the press, these provisions are more routinely honoured in their breech rather than their observance. They are often overlooked or subjected to severe restrictions.
This recent upsurge in arrests may go beyond the regime’s usual harassment of journalists but the phenomenon is not limited to Iranian journalists covering the ongoing protests. The Islamic Republic has a long history of jailing journalists as well as subjecting them to extreme censorship and political pressure.
CODIR is calling for the release of the imprisoned women journalists, Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who have committed no crime. They have done nothing more than report on the criminal activity of the Iranian state itself in highlighting the circumstances surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini.
Since the death of Ms Amini last September, Iranian people, with women and youth often at the forefront, have been taking to the streets across the country, despite the growing threats and brutal suppression carried out by the security forces, acting on the commands of the regime’s leaders.
CODIR Assistant General Secretary, Jamshid Ahmadi, has expressed condemnation of the incarceration of the two women and the lack of due judicial process in Iran.
“These imprisonments are a further example of the Iranian regime having no interest in justice and no commitment to press freedom,” he said. “CODIR will continue to highlight the actions of the theocratic dictatorship in Iran in gagging those who have a legitimate right to freedom of expression. The regime in Iran is clearly feeling under threat from the emergence of regular protests. We reassert our ongoing commitment to support the popular struggles of the Iranian people towards the establishment of a modern, secular and democratic government.”
CODIR has called for all forces supporting the struggle for human and democratic rights in Iran, to condemn the imprisonment of the women journalists, through issuing statements in solidarity with those campaigning for their release.
CODIR requests that trade union affiliates write to the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to make clear their opposition to these imprisonments and the restrictions placed upon freedom of expression in Iran.
CODIR is also asking for individuals to write to their local MP, drawing their attention to the worsening situation inside Iran and requesting that they write to the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran on similar grounds, as well as using their platform in Parliament, to draw attention to the plight of the people of Iran.
Further info at http://www.codir.net
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