On Sunday, January 14, Persian language accounts on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) mentioned "imminent good news," without giving further details. Eventually, at around 4 pm Tehran time, two Iranian journalists, Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, were released on bail after more than a year in detention. The two young women were arrested in September 2022 for their journalistic coverage of the death of Mahsa (Jina) Amini, who died in police custody on September 16, 2022, for being "improperly covered" by her veil.
The death of the young Iranian woman of Kurdish origin sparked a powerful wave of protests in Iran, which lasted four months and involved every corner of the country. During the demonstrations, at least 500 civilians were killed and eight people linked to the protests were executed by the judiciary. Tens of thousands of Iranians were arrested, some of whom were sentenced to long prison terms.
At the trial in October 2023, Mohammadi was sentenced to six years' imprisonment and Hamedi to seven years. The two journalists were convicted of "collaborating with the hostile United States," "assembly and collusion to act against national security" and "propaganda against the state." They denied these charges, claiming that they had only fulfilled their journalistic assignment. They were released on bail of 10 billion tomans (€160,000) pending their appeal.
On their release from the notorious Evin prison in northern Tehran, the two journalists were greeted by a crowd of family and friends. In some of the videos and photos published of their release, the two young women made a "V" with their hands as a sign of victory, and they were not wearing headscarves – a gesture in solidarity with Iranian women who, since Amini's death, have refused to obey the law obliging women to cover their entire body, except for their face and hands.
In September 2022, Hamedi was arrested for visiting Kasra Hospital in Tehran, where Amini had been hospitalized, for the Iranian daily paper Shargh. Mohammadi, a journalist with the daily Hammihan, went to Saqqez, the deceased's hometown, to cover her funeral. She was arrested a week after her colleague. Both played a key role in publicizing the circumstances surrounding Amini's death, giving a voice to her family, who constantly blamed the authorities for the tragedy, despite the official line focusing on the young Iranian woman's medical history.
The release of the two journalists comes just over two months before the parliamentary elections scheduled for March 1, the first since the 2022 protests. Freeing the journalists may be aimed at appeasing Iranians, many of whom are tempted to shun the polls. Meanwhile, the regime continues to harass Iranian women who dare to show their uncovered heads in the streets. Their cars are sometimes impounded and they are fined. Some have been fired from their jobs.