News Center- Islamic Republic’s Judiciary Spokesperson held a press conference today regarding Iranian imprisoned journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi.

The spokesperson has announced that the first hearing of the trial against Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who have been held in Evin prison, will be held on June 8 and 9 by the Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court.

 What happened?

A Kurdish woman named Jina Mahsa Amini was tortured in custody by Iran’s so-called “Morality police” in Tehran for wearing her compulsory hijab inappropriately. After three days at a hospital in Tehran, she died. After her death, young journalist Niloofar Hamedi tweeted a photo of Amini's parents hugging and crying in the hospital. That photo quickly spread along with her reporting on the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini. Niloofar Hamedi was arrested by security forces on September 21, 2022 for her reports. She has been imprisoned since then.

Another Iranian journalist Elaheh Mohammadi was arrested by security forces on September 29, 2022 for reporting about the police attack at the funeral of Jina Mahsa Amini in Saqqez.

Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi are joint winners of both the 2023 International Press Freedom Award of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and Harvard’s 2023 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism. They were named as two of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023. They were also named as the laureates of the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.