In Response to Voice of America, the United States Rejects the Islamic Republic's Claims Against Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi

The spokesperson for the U.S. State Department rejected the Islamic Republic's accusations against Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi of 'collaborating with America.' Matthew Miller, in response to a question from a Voice of America reporter regarding the case of these two imprisoned journalists, stated: 'In relation to this specific question, we reject these accusations. They are clearly not true.' After months of detention of Elaheh Mohammadi and Niloufar Hamedi due to revealing the circumstances surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic has scheduled their trial for next week. One of the charges against these two imprisoned journalists is 'collaboration with America.' Mr. Miller also added: 'I must point out that during the protests, Iranian officials repeatedly violated the civil rights of Iranians and punished them for what are fundamental individual freedoms. This includes not only members of the Iranian community who took to the streets to protest but also journalists in the country (Iran).' Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, along with Narges Mohammadi, were recently announced as this year's winners of the UNESCO International Press Freedom Prize known as 'Guillermo Cano' on May 2. Niloufar Hamedi, a journalist for Shargh newspaper, announced the news of Mahsa Amini's death after she was killed in custody by the morality police and was arrested a few days later by the security agencies of the Islamic Republic. Elaheh 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 section 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 Elaheh Mohammadi were also included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in 2023. The U.S. State Department spokesperson added that 'sham trials and executions' are among the main efforts of the Iranian regime to suppress any form of dissent. He emphasized: 'We once again, as we have in other cases, call on Iranian officials to stop arbitrary detentions and sham trials and to cease depriving the people of Iran of the fundamental freedoms they deserve.' Matthew Miller, when asked about the recent increase in executions in Iran, said: 'I must say that we are concerned about how the Iranian regime uses executions following what we consider to be sham trials.'