After Months, Court Dates Set; The Cases of Elahe Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi Are Underway

Masoud Setayesh, spokesperson for the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic, announced on Tuesday during his weekly meeting that the process of reviewing and scheduling court hearings for detained journalists Elahe Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi has begun, stating: "The court for Ms. Mohammadi will be held on June 8 and for Ms. Hamedi on June 9." Setayesh claimed that "with the diligence of the branch president and his supervision," lawyers had access to the case and spent a long time studying it. Previously, on April 25 of this year, the spokesperson had announced the issuance of an indictment against Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi on charges of "collaborating with the hostile government of the United States, conspiracy to commit a crime against national security, and propaganda against the regime," and that their case had been sent to Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court. Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, along with Narges Mohammadi, were recently introduced as winners of this year's UNESCO International Press Freedom Prize known as the "Guillermo Cano" on May 2. Niloufar Hamedi, a journalist for the Shargh newspaper, announced the news of Mahsa Amini's death while in police custody, and was arrested by the security agencies of the Islamic Republic a few days later. Elahe Mohammadi, who worked for the Ham-Mihan newspaper, reported on Mahsa Amini's funeral and has also been in prison since September. A few weeks ago, Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou, Niloufar Hamedi's husband, reported the transfer of the two from Qarchak prison to the women's ward of Evin prison. These two journalists have also jointly received the International "Press Freedom" award from the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the "Lion" award from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi were also included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in 2023. Reporters Without Borders also published its new report on media freedom for 2023 on Wednesday, May 2, coinciding with World Press Freedom Day, which ranked Iran 177th out of 180 countries. According to this report, only three countries, Vietnam, China, and North Korea, have a worse situation than Iran. The Iranian Writers' Association also issued a statement on May 3, calling for the unconditional release of all imprisoned journalists on the occasion of "World Press Freedom Day" and announced that it will continue to fight for a society where the government’s interference in free press and independent media is curtailed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence, in a joint statement, accused these two journalists of "publishing biased news."