Outside Contact Restrictions Placed on Iranian Women Journalists in Prison Following Protests
Three female journalists are currently serving time in Tehran's Evin prison for chanting slogans about "unfair sentences" during a visit by high-ranking judicial officials late last month. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has strongly condemned the punitive measures imposed on them.
The IFJ announced on January 9 that, as a result of the protest action on December 27, female prisoners, including journalists Elahe Mohammadi, Niloofar Hamedi, and Nasim Sultanbeigi, were denied the right to make phone calls and visitation for a month.
Furthermore, the women inmates were "threatened by prison authorities, who may also bring forward additional charges and relocate them to remote prisons," according to the statement.
Nine journalists in Iranian prisons are being held unfairly, the group says.
Protests across the country broke out in September 2022 after Mahsa Amini died in police custody; scores of journalists, including Sultanbeigi, Mohammadi, and Hamedi, were forcibly taken into custody during those demonstrations.
For their coverage of Amini's death, Mohammadi received a 12-year prison term and Hamedi received a 13-year prison term.
Currently, Sultanbeigi is serving a three-year and seven-month sentence.