. Nilofaar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi both worked for reformist daily newspapers and were arrested separately at the end of September. They are reported to have been held in the country's notorious Evin prison since, both in and out of solitary confinement. In a joint statement the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard said that both reporters, whose names had been reduced to initials, were American spies and 'primary sources of news for foreign media'. A charge of espionage can carry the death penalty in Iran. Ms Hamedi was the first journalist to report from Tehran's Kasra hospital where Ms Amini died after being arrested by the country's so-called 'morality' police for incorrectly wearing her headscarf. Ms Mohammadi reported from the funeral of Ms Amini in her Kurdish hometown of Saqqez. On Sunday, some 300 Iranian journalists signed a statement to condemn the arrest of journalists, according to local media. The editor-in-chief of Shargh, the newspaper Ms Hamedi worked for, denied the claims from Iranian authorities and said that he worked with her through every stage of her reporting. 'Publishing the picture and the report about Mahsa Amini was the right thing to do and we were only doing our duty toward spreading the news,' he said in a statement. According to rights groups at least 40 journalists have been detained since the start of the protests six weeks ago, with some 20 estimated to still be in detention.){kind=link}
Nilofaar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who both work for a reformist newspaper are being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison
The two female Iranian journalists who broke the story of Mahsa Amini’s death at the hands of the country’s morality police have been formally accused by Iranian intelligence of being spies for the US Central Intelligence agency (CIA).
Nilofaar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi both worked for reformist daily newspapers and were arrested separately at the end of September. They are reported to have been held in the country’s notorious Evin prison since, both in and out of solitary confinement.
In a joint statement the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard said that both reporters, whose names had been reduced to initials, were American spies and “primary sources of news for foreign media”.
A charge of espionage can carry the death penalty in Iran.