People hold up banner and a portrait of Mahsa Amini, who died following her arrest by the Iranian morality police in September 2022, during a demonstration in Paris. EPA
People hold up banner and a portrait of Mahsa Amini, who died following her arrest by the Iranian morality police in September 2022, during a demonstration in Paris. EPA
People hold up banner and a portrait of Mahsa Amini, who died following her arrest by the Iranian morality police in September 2022, during a demonstration in Paris. EPA
People hold up banner and a portrait of Mahsa Amini, who died following her arrest by the Iranian morality police in September 2022, during a demonstration in Paris. EPA

Iranian journalist who uncovered Mahsa Amini story denies charges against her


Mina Aldroubi
  • English
  • Arabic

An Iranian reporter on Wednesday denied all charges against her as her trial opened in Tehran, fending off accusations that have led to the death penalty for previous regime critics.

Nilofar Hamedi was one of two journalists to first report on the case of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died after being detained by police over wearing her hijab “inappropriately”.

She later fell into a coma and died in hospital, with her family and activists saying she died as a result of being beaten.

Her death sparked nationwide street protests that continued until earlier this year.

“Today's court session was devoted to the reading of the indictment and the written and oral answers of the client to the questions of the judge,” Hamedi's lawyer, Parto Borhanpour, told the reformist Shargh newspaper, where she worked.

“There was no time for the oral defence of the lawyers,” she said, but added they were able to present the court with their objections and requests.

The defence objected to “Hamedi's lack of access to a lawyer during her detention” and called for the trial to be held “publicly”.

The session, held on Tuesday, “ended in less than two hours while her lawyers did not get a chance to defend her and her family members were not allowed to attend the court”, Hamedi's husband, Mohammad Hossein Ajorlou, said on Twitter.

“She denied all the charges against her and emphasised that she had performed her duty as a journalist based on the law,” he said.

Hamedi told the court “she had performed her work as a journalist within the framework of the law and did not take any action against Iran's security”, her husband said.

Her lawyers also objected to her continued detention despite “the completion of the preliminary investigation stage”.

She was detained on September 20 after reporting from the hospital where Ms Amini had spent three days before her death.

Since Ms Amini's death, hundreds have been killed – mostly protesters but also members of the security forces – and thousands arrested. Iran earlier this year said 15,000 people had been detained in the wake of the protests.

International protests

Activists around the world railed against the regime following the news of Ms Amini's death, many cutting off their hair in protest in the first few months.

People demonstrated in London, Rome, Madrid and other western cities in solidarity with Iranian protesters, holding pictures of Ms Amini.

Civil society groups and human rights activists condemned the repression of the anti-government protests and demanded the release of detained political prisoners and an immediate halt to executions.

The UN reported that, since the beginning of 2023, at least 203 Iranians sentenced to death have been hanged.

The protest movement has calmed over the past few months, although isolated acts of defiance are still reported.

Another female journalist, Elaheh Mohammadi, who went on trial on Monday, faces several charges including “colluding with hostile powers” for their coverage of Ms Amini’s death.

Iran's intelligence ministry in October accused both journalists of being CIA foreign agents.

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The seven points are:

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Dhafeer Street

Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)

Salama bint Butti Street

Al Dhafra Street

Rabdan Street

Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)

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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

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Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MIDWAY

Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Updated: May 31, 2023, 3:28 PM`