Over 90 reporters questioned or arrested in Iran since protests: media

August 8, 2023 07:47 PM

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Iranian authorities have questioned or arrested over 90 journalists since nationwide protests rocked the Islamic republic last year, local media reported Tuesday.

Mass demonstrations erupted in September 2022 following the death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurd Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly breaching the Islamic republic's strict dress code for women.

Hundreds of people including security forces were killed and thousands arrested over their participation in what the authorities have described as "riots" fomented by the West.

"More than 90 journalists have been arrested or summoned over the past 10 months in different cities" across the country, according to the reformist Shargh daily, quoting a report by a local committee that supports detained journalists.

Most have been released on bail or granted amnesty, but the fate of 11 journalists, including six detained and five others awaiting verdicts, "is still unknown", said the report published on Iran's National Journalists' Day, celebrated on August 8.

Among the detained journalists are Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who covered Amini's death and have been detained since September.

The pair are being tried separately behind closed doors in Tehran and were charged in November with propaganda against the state and conspiring against national security.