Niloufar Hamedi's Husband: We protested on November 20, but the case has not yet gone to 'appeal'

The husband of Niloufar Hamedi, a jailed journalist, announced in a message on his Instagram account about a two-week delay in sending her case to the appeals court. Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou wrote: 'Niloufar Hamedi's lawyer filed an appeal on November 20 against the unjust ruling of Judge Salavati against her.' According to Ajorlou, despite the passage of two weeks, the case has still not been sent to the appeals court for processing. He described Hamedi's detention since September 27 as 'illegal,' stating: 'It has been 430 days since Niloufar's illegal detention.' Niloufar Hamedi has been sentenced to 7 years in prison for 'collaboration with the hostile government of the United States,' 5 years for 'gathering and colluding to commit a crime against national security,' and 1 year for 'propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran,' which, if confirmed, will result in 7 years of imprisonment. Hamedi was arrested during last year's nationwide protests for covering the news of Mahsa Amini's death while in custody of the 'morality police' and was accused of 'collaboration with a hostile government.' The U.S. government has repeatedly denied any connection or cooperation with Niloufar Hamedi and described such rulings as an effort by the Islamic Republic to suppress freedom of expression. The Committee to Protect Journalists named the Islamic Republic of Iran as the 'worst jail for journalists in the world' in 2022. A U.S. State Department spokesperson recently rejected the allegations from the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC's Intelligence Organization regarding Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi receiving training in the U.S. Earlier, Saeedah Fathi Abadi, a sports journalist, described the accusations against Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi as 'fabricated cases' by the Islamic Republic for these journalists, stating that even the laws of the Islamic Republic are violated in its courts.