Niloufar Hamedi in Court: I Take Pride in My Work as a Journalist

As security and judicial crackdowns on journalists continue in Iran, the second court session for Niloufar Hamedi, a jailed journalist, was held, and Marzieh Mahmoudi, editor-in-chief of Tejarat News website, was sentenced to pay a fine and exile. An eyewitness also shared their experience of being imprisoned with several journalists, including Ms. Hamedi, in Ward 209 of Evin Prison, with Voice of America. Niloufar Hamedi's husband tweeted on Tuesday, August 25, announcing the second court session and stating that her final defense was taken during this session. Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou wrote that Niloufar Hamedi emphasized in court that she "takes pride in her work as a journalist." Mr. Ajorlou added: "At the end of the court session, the lawyers had a few moments to present their defenses. Given that the case has concluded, we are awaiting a verdict in the coming days." An eyewitness told Voice of America: The interrogator said they monitor each journalist individually. A political prisoner who was imprisoned with Niloufar Hamedi in Ward 209 in the fall of 2022 shared part of their memories with Voice of America. The eyewitness said that when they were transferred to Niloufar Hamedi's room, she was "waiting for her release letter" and after a month of interrogation, which was daily for the first 15 days and sometimes lasted "up to five hours," she was "happy that the interrogators were sure that Niloufar did not publish the photo related to Zhina (Mahsa Amini) on the hospital bed." The eyewitness quoted Niloufar Hamedi as saying that "the interrogators themselves were upset that I am here" and "on the last day she was interrogated, a woman who was always with the interrogators and claimed to be an expert said goodbye to her. Niloufar asked her how much longer she would stay, and the woman said very little! We will send the case to court, and you will probably be released on bail, but the judge will decide." According to him, "even Niloufar asked if the judge might give me, for example, five years in prison? The woman laughed and said no! What did you do?" However, the eyewitness noted that in the following days, no news came, and even several times Niloufar requested to meet with the interrogator and the expert, but they were denied. Referring to the joint statement by the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization regarding Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, he said: "We heard it with the small TV we had. Niloufar was shocked and could not speak for a while... more than anything, her trust was lost. She could not believe they had lied to her." The Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization issued a joint statement identifying Niloufar Hamedi, a journalist for Shargh, and Elahe Mohammadi, a journalist for Ham-Mihan newspaper, as individuals trained in courses they referred to as "the mafia regime of America" and accused them of playing the role of primary sources for news fabrication for "foreign media." A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, in response to this claim and in an exclusive response to the Persian section of Voice of America, fundamentally rejected the allegations by the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC Intelligence Organization regarding the two journalists having undergone training in the U.S. The eyewitness also added that Niloufar Hamedi was "upset by the accusation of being a spy and related to espionage networks" and said, "I dedicated my entire life to Iran and I will never forget the lies and deceit used by the intelligence services." The eyewitness also mentioned an incident where a female officer clashed with one of the imprisoned journalists, stating that "the officer loudly said we wish to pull the chair from under each of you" and Niloufar Hamedi said, "this is exactly their wish for me." He also recounted that after that officer's threat, another political prisoner "had a nervous breakdown" and "they did not pay attention to her," and following this incident, "the kids started protesting and banging on the door" and the guards "had to bring the head of the detention center" and "forty of us protested together" and Niloufar Hamedi told the head, "Are your officers presenting their delusions as accusations here?" and "the officer told her to be quiet. You are our guest for a long time." The eyewitness quoted Niloufar Hamedi as saying that the interrogators had spoken about the details of her life and the interrogator told her, "We always monitor each journalist individually." In the continuation of pressures on journalists, Marzieh Mahmoudi, editor-in-chief of Tejarat News, announced that she has been sentenced for the second time due to a complaint from Hamid Rasai, a hardliner figure in the Islamic Republic and a former member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. This journalist, who had previously paid a fine of six million tomans based on a ruling issued for Rasai's previous complaint, has now been sentenced to pay a fine of 24 million tomans and also one year of exile to Torbat Jam. Hamid Rasai's attacks on protesters and cultural and media activists have previously led to judicial convictions for them. In recent weeks, security and judicial actions against journalists in Iran have increased.