On January 14, the Iranian regime launched journalists Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi from jail after 16 months of incarceration. Each of them posted $200,000 bail, and the court docket imposed a journey ban on each, stopping them from leaving Iran.
On January 15, simply in the future after their launch, Iran’s judiciary launched a brand new case in opposition to the journalists, accusing them of violating hijab laws by not masking their hair. If convicted, each girls face an extra jail time period.
Hamedi and Mohammadi had been initially taken into custody in September 2022, shortly after widespread protests erupted in Iran in response to the demise of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Amini was detained for improperly sporting a hijab and died whereas in police custody. Hamedi’s and Mohammadi’s trials started final May.
Hamedi, who initially reported on Amini’s demise, acquired a seven-year jail sentence, whereas Mohammadi, who coated Amini’s funeral, was sentenced to 6 years in jail. According to the Mizan information web site, the fees in opposition to them included collaborating with the “hostile American authorities, conspiring in opposition to nationwide safety, and fascinating in propaganda in opposition to the system.”
In October 2022, throughout the two journalists’ preliminary trial, the web site of Iran’s Fars News Agency, which is managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a paramilitary pressure loyal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — revealed 17 movies launched by the Iranian judiciary. The movies ostensibly current “documentary proof of crimes” dedicated by Hamedi and Mohammadi.
Introducing the 17 clips, Farsnews.in wrote:
“Although some claimed that the 2 arrested journalists had been harmless after Mahsa Amini’s demise, paperwork had been revealed that clearly present their actions and reveal the cooperation of the 2 with the American and Western spy providers.”
That is fake.
Polygraph.data has translated and analyzed all 17 video clips, which look like a mixture of the Iranian judiciary’s “explanatory” narrations and surveillance audio recordings, presumably of the 2 journalists. We are unable to substantiate the veracity of the audio recordings or that the voices in them belong to Hamedi and Mohammadi.
The narration within the movies and the audio recordings are lacking key particulars and look like taken out of context. It is feasible that the imprecise nature of the clips was intentional and designed to misinform and create uncertainty.
Nothing within the video clips proves that Hamedi and Mohammadi cooperated with any international intelligence businesses.
Below are summaries of every of the recordings:
In the primary video, a male-voiced narration introduces Mohammadi as a journalist “primarily” targeted on “spreading false info” and “tarnishing girls’s fame.” That is adopted by what appears like surveillance audio of Mohammadi telling an unidentified particular person by phone that she has stories of widespread sexual harassment of girls that she will share.
The second video alleges that Mohammadi disseminated false details about the police beating Amini. It additionally consists of audio of a purported dialog between Mohammadi and Amini’s uncle, throughout which Mohammadi mentions blood from Amini’s ears, which the uncle denies.
The third video means that the information reported by the 2 journalists considerably exacerbated the scenario in Iran. It consists of a number of audio recordings. In one in every of them, Hamedi is talking with a member of “Azar” in regards to the intensive protection of Amini’s demise throughout channels. (Polygraph.data was unable to establish any Iran-related activist group or media group referred to as Azar.) Another recording presumably options Mohammadi’s communication with Ghoncheh Ghavami, a determine the Iranian regime associates with what it calls “tender struggle tasks” — campaigns to mobilize societal protests by way of social media platforms. The audio recording is unclear and Mohammadi’s statements in it indicate a denial of any involvement with Ghavami.
The fourth video consists of an audio recording of a dialog between Ghavami and Elnaz Mohammadi, Elaheh Mohammadi’s sister. In it, Ghavami advises Elnaz to cover a cellphone to stop confiscation, suggesting that or not it’s buried within the floor and turned off to keep away from GPS monitoring.
The fifth video contends that Mohammadi fashioned a gaggle tasked with organizing small gatherings in numerous areas and spreading unfavourable information to accentuate anti-government sentiments. The video claims the group meant to create brochures and different supplies designed to painting a unfavourable picture of Iran and foster Western cultural influences to alter societal views. The video additionally insinuates that selling “sexual deviations” in Iran was a key purpose of this undertaking.
The sixth video places ahead the declare that the 2 journalists had undergone media coaching on find out how to instigate a disaster, alleging that such coaching has been a major goal of Western spy providers for the reason that revolution. It particularly mentions that Mohammadi attended a media coaching in Turkey. The video additionally consists of an audio recording of Mohammadi through which she mentions attending one or two conferences that concerned pc coaching. In one other audio recording, through which Mohammadi is talking with an American reporter, she identifies herself as an activist exterior Iran and expresses a want to advertise feminism internationally.
The seventh video highlights Mohammadi’s participation in two programs on the Iran Academia Institute, an entity described by the video’s narrator as having “ties to hypocrites.” It consists of an audio recording of Mohammadi explaining that the institute is an internet group that gave her a commencement certificates. She describes being engaged in quite a few theoretical discussions on matters like feminism and social feminism, noting that these had been a part of the Iran Academy curriculum.
The eighth video claims that Hamedi attended coaching in South Africa organized by the Democracy Council, “reportedly established by the US Department of State” and overseen by James Prince, described within the video as an “American Zionist.”
The Democracy Council web site lists as its sponsors the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the American Ford foundations — each personal enterprises with no authorities funding. There isn’t any point out on the Democracy Council’s web site about US authorities ties or funding.
In the previous, nonetheless, the Democracy Council had financed media shops and opposition teams in Syria with State Department funding from 2006 till a minimum of 2010, in keeping with a 2011 Washington Post report citing secret US diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks. At that point, Price informed The Post that his Council “administers grants” from the State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative however they weren’t “Syria-specific.”
The video options an audio recording of Hamedi expressing her apprehensiveness about touring to South Africa for the Democracy Council coaching. The video means that the course targeted on educating find out how to devise methods for social change, together with by labeling Iran as a rustic of oppression and discrimination based mostly on gender, faith and ethnicity. It concludes with the point out that Hamedi acquired a commencement certificates from this course.
The ninth video alleges that Hamedi and Mohammadi had been totally conscious that their actions had been carried out below the steering and with the backing of the US State Department. It additionally claims that they’re linked to anti-Islamic revolution networks overseas. “Niloufar and Elaheh ought to by no means have been jailed, and we condemn their sentences,” US Deputy Special Envoy Abram Paley posted on X in October. “The Iranian regime jails journalists as a result of it fears the reality.”
The tenth video options an audio presumably encompasses a recording of a dialog between Mohammadi and Ghavami. The voices within the recording focus on the affect of soppy struggle tasks. Mohammadi refers to statements about girls residing for freedom, mentions the oppression of girls from Kurdistan to Tehran and aggression in opposition to girls. She additionally recounts an incident through which she and different girls allegedly threw stones on the police after which hid behind pillars. There aren’t any particulars in regards to the place or time of the alleged incident.
The eleventh video focuses on the primary day that Mahsa Amini was hospitalized, claiming that Hamedi arrived to take pictures and doc the scene, planning to stir anti-Iranian authorities sentiment and unfold misinformation. An audio phase consists of Hamedi asking Amini’s father in regards to the alleged beating, to which he responds by saying he would not know something with certainty in regards to the police therapy of his daughter.
The fourteenth video accuses Mohammadi of frightening Amini’s father and different kinfolk along with her questions. It consists of an audio phase through which Mohammadi asks Amini’s father whether or not the morality patrols needs to be eradicated. Amini’s father responds that he doesn’t share that opinion.
The fifteenth video consists of an audio clip of a dialog between Mohammadi and Amini’s cousin, through which Mohammadi poses questions, however the cousin signifies uncertainty in regards to the full particulars of what occurred.
The sixteenth video consists of an audio recording of a dialogue between Mohammadi and Amini’s uncle, who seems to warning Mohammadi in opposition to exaggeration.
Mohammadi asks about Amini’s medical historical past — particularly her coronary heart situation — however the uncle stays imprecise, neither specifying particulars nor clearly explaining if there was a prognosis that might clarify her demise.
The seventeenth video options one other audio phase through which Mohammadi is talking with Amini’s uncle and asking if the household had obtained a lawyer and affords to refer them to 1. The uncle initially says he did not rent a lawyer, however then says he has one. Despite Mohammadi’s continued queries in regards to the lawyer, the uncle says the household needs to keep away from additional escalation and a spotlight.
On October 25, United for Iran, a US-based human rights group, denied Tehran’s allegations that it had collaborated with Mohammadi and Hamedi. It dismissed the allegations as a part of the Islamic Republic’s longstanding apply of making false narratives.
Since their arrest, the 2 Iranian journalists have grow to be internationally famend and acquired a number of recognitions, together with TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023, and the United Nations’ Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.