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Iranian journalists remain imprisoned for reporting
on Mahsa Amini's death
Issued on: 03/05/2023 - 20:51
Text by: Bahar MAKOOI, 4 min
France 24
A photo of Iranian reporters Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi posted on Twitter on November 2, 2022.
© AFP
Iran is one of the most repressive countries in terms of press freedom, according to an annual report released Wednesday by Reporters Without Borders, which ranked it 177th of 180 nations.
Since the September 2022 death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in Tehran, 72 journalists have been arrested and 25 remain imprisoned, most of them women. FRANCE 24 takes a look at the cases of two journalists who remain behind bars over their reporting on the young Kurdish woman’s death.
Two distraught parents embraced in the empty corridor of a hospital in Kasra, Tehran. They had just learned that their 22-year-old daughter Mahsa Amini had died, three days after being arrested by the morality police for "improperly" wearing her hijab.
Journalist Niloofar Hamedi has been held for more than seven months by the Iranian authorities for capturing this silent moment in a photograph and making it public. A correspondent for the reformist daily newspaper “Shargh”, Hamedi was the first to break the news of the young Kurdish woman’s death on September 16, 2022, by posting the photograph on Twitter.
The post provoked an unprecedented wave of unrest and several months of demonstrations against the Iranian authorities.
Arrested at her home by intelligence agents on September 20, the 31-year-old journalist was not given a trial before being put behind bars, according to Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East Office of Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières or RSF), which published its annual report on press freedom on Wednesday.
Journalist Elahe Mohammadi, 35, is also being held at Qarchak prison south of Tehran. A writer for the reformist daily newspaper “Hammihan”, she was arrested on September 29 for going to Amini's hometown of Saqez in Iranian Kurdistan to cover the young woman’s funeral, which gave rise to the first demonstrations following her death.
The Iranian judiciary confirmed in April that the two women were indicted on charges including collaborating with the United States, undermining national security and spreading anti-state propaganda. The two women were formally accused in October of being agents for the CIA.
That is more like communist paranoia than Islamic. Anyone who wants to improve the governance of their country must be a spy for America.
Symbols of the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement
Denouncing these "grotesque accusations", RSF has demanded the release of the two journalists. In Iran, charges of espionage are punishable by death.
Hamedi and Mohammadi’s cases are of particular concern: "Both have become emblematic of the repression of press freedom in Iran, but also of the (Women, Life, Freedom) movement. They are journalists and women. So they are symbols on many levels. That's why the Iranian government treats them much more severely," says Dagher. "Iran tends to punish journalists who are the first to reveal information more severely, and make an example of them for other women and journalists," adds Dagher.
There is no place for truth in Iran when it conflicts with the government's madness. Devout Muslim countries like to keep their women invisible, and, apparently, silent.
Nine other female journalists are being held by the authorities, including eight arrested since the uprising that followed Amini’s death. "This is unprecedented in the country and one of the highest figures in the world," says Dagher, noting that female journalists are being targeted "because they play an important role in covering this movement, especially in giving a voice to women who are at the forefront of the protest".
RSF says a total of 72 Iranian journalists have been arrested since Amini’s death on September 16, with 25 still behind bars. The incarcerations earn Iran seventh place among the countries detaining the most journalists, with China in the top spot followed by Myanmar, Vietnam, Belarus, Turkey and Syria.
Released but under pressure
But even for released journalists, "deliverance can become a threat in itself, with sentences that act like swords of Damocles hanging over their heads", says Dagher.
This is the case for Nazila Maroofian, (above) another female journalist who investigated Amini’s death. She was sentenced without trial to a two-year suspended prison term for "spreading false news" and "anti-government propaganda" after spending 71 days in prison. Maroofian, who is from the same city as Amini, was targeted by the Iranian authorities for publishing an interview with her father on the news website “Mostaghel Online”.
Others were released in exchange for signed confessions – "statements of remorse", or promises not to cover certain events or stories – reports RSF.
One of these journalists was Ali Pourtabatabaei, who worked for a local news website in Qom, located 140km south of Tehran, and was one of the first to reveal that young girls were being poisoned using an unidentified gas in schools across the city in November 2022.
Pourtabatabaei was arrested on March 5 amid controversy over the ongoing wave of poisonings. After several weeks in detention, "on the day of his release, the government asked journalists not to cover this story because it was upsetting the public, demanding that they rely only on official sources for all information", says Dagher.
Under these conditions, many Iranian journalists have been forced to flee the country. To manage the influx and provide assistance, RSF set up a crisis unit. Several have since settled in France, others in Canada, the United States and Turkey. But even there they are not safe from intimidation.
"Their families continue to be pressured in Iran," says Dagher, who has collected several personal accounts to this effect. Other journalists have been informed by foreign intelligence services that they are potential kidnapping targets and so have been strongly advised not to travel to countries bordering Iran, including Turkey.
Outrage over abduction, forceful conversion of 14-y/o girl to Islam
in Kaduna
by Bertram Nwannekanma, Guardian (Nigeria), May 10, 2023:
Nigeria must outlaw sexual slavery, forced conversion, says HURIWA.
Outrage has trailed the abduction from school and forceful conversion to Islam of a 14-year-old, Esther Duniya, by the village head of Dorayi (Sarkin Dorayi) Ikara Local Council of Kaduna State.
The Guardian gathered that the teenager abducted on April 5, 2023, is currently living in captivity and in custody of Hakimin Makarfi in Makarfi Local Council of the state.
The Senior Secondary (SS) 1 student of Government Secondary School, who hails from Magamia Dama Kasuwa of Zangon Kataf Local Council of Kaduna State, was born on April 29, 2009.
She relocated to Ikara to live with her aunty, Esther Danjuma, as a result of ill health and insecurity, which affected her village.
The Guardian learnt that her aunty opted to treat her with local herbs since her sick father could not adequately take care of her.
When she started responding to treatment, her aunty thought it wise for her to continue with her education, which was on hold for a while due her health challenge.
Consequently, on March 10, 2023, Esther was enrolled at Government Secondary School Danlawal Ikara, which was very close to where the aunty runs her restaurant business.
According to a source, as Esther continued to attend her classes, on April 5, 2023, she left for school in the morning, but didn’t return home.
“Esther’s aunty started looking for her that very day but couldn’t find her. The following day, she was alerted by someone who saw Esther in the house of one Mallam Sani Danmeyamma Danlawal.
On reaching the house, Danlawal’s daughter, Mansura, who is Esther’s classmate, confessed that the teenager came to her house to help her with washing, but left the house afterwards.
“When the matter was reported to the Village head of Danlawal, he summoned and questioned the said Mansura, who later confessed that Esther was taken to Dorayi to the house of one Aisha Basiru.
“On hearing this, Esther’s aunty left for Dorayi in search of the teenager, and on reaching there, she received the shocking news that one Badeyi Bala, who claimed to be a police officer and one Alhaji Lawal, who is an aide to the village head of Dorayi (Dogarin Sarkin Dorayi), admitted that one Aisha brought Esther to him to convert her to Islam, which he did with the said Badeyi Bala, who claims to be a policeman.
They said that Esther was with them and they will not give her back to the parents since they have now converted her to Islam.
“When the parents insisted on the return of Esther, the two staff members of the village head refused and even threatened their lives.
“In view of the threat they received and the refusal to return Esther to them, Esther’s aunty went and reported the matter to the Kunkumi Police Station and thereafter the matter was transferred to the Makarfi Local Council Divisional Police Station.
“Instead of handing over Esther back to her family, the Makarfi Police Command handed over Esther to the Makarfi District Head (Hakimin Makarfi). Esther’s aunty, together with some Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) officials of Makarfi council went to see the Hakimi on the same matter, but he refused to grant them an audience.
“The same Hakimi handed over Aisha to Daawa, the Islamic group in charge of converting and indoctrinating Muslims converts who are now boasting and threatening to convert even Esther’s aunty.
“The same matter was taken to the Zaria Police Command by the same Muslim group to gain the support of the Police, because the Zaria Police Command ignored justice and decided to scold Esther’s aunty for insisting on the release of her daughter.
“On Monday, May 1, 2023, Esther’s biological father, Mr. Duniya, despite his health challenge, risked his life to go and see the Hakimin Makarfi, instead of listening to him, in conspiracy with the Daawah group threatened to convert him also.
“When they brought Esther to see him, she was crying and wanted to follow him, but Hakimi said that he would not release her to the parents. He said Esther will stay with him for one month until she finally decides to speak of her intention publicly to remain a Muslim,” the source added….
Forcible conversion seems to be peculiar to Islam. I have posted many stories about such conversions to Islam, but have never seen one for any other religion or faith. Since true religion has to do with a personal relationship with God - forcible conversion is madness.
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