![[FILE] Iranian people hold pictures of Mahsa Amini during a protest outside the Iranian Consulate following the death of Mahsa Amini, in Istanbul, Turkey, 26 September 2022. EFE-EPA/SEDAT SUNA](https://pre.efe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/rss-efeb8d73482140e16b5eb676f262f075093d13eccbdw.jpg)
Tehran, Oct 13 (EFE).- Iran’s judiciary announced on Sunday that the five-year prison sentences for two women journalists, who reported on the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022, will be enforced, despite calls for amnesty from their lawyers.
Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi were sentenced a year ago to 13 and 12 years in prison respectively. But their terms have been reduced to five years, judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir told reporters.
Jahangir said the appeals court “acquitted” the two women journalists “of collaborating with the hostile American government in the appeals court.”
“As the maximum sentence of five years has been imposed, the case has been forwarded to the authorities responsible for the execution of sentences,” Jahangir said, as reported by the Mizan news agency.
However, defense lawyers Parto Borhanpour and Hojat Kermani said they were surprised at the announcement.
They argued that the two journalists should qualify for amnesty under a 2023 pardon decree by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, aimed at those arrested during protests following Amini’s death.
“Today, the judiciary spokesperson announced that the sentences for Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi will be carried out, despite their cases falling under the amnesty decree,” one of the defense lawyers told the Shargh daily.
Hamedi and Mohammadi were initially denied amnesty due to the charge of “collaborating with a hostile foreign government.”
However, the Tehran provincial appeals court acquitted them of these charges in August, clearing the path for amnesty, according to their lawyers.
The two reporters were arrested in September 2022 after Hamedi published a photograph of Amini in the hospital, intubated and in a coma.
Mohammadi reported on Amini’s burial in the Kurdish town of Saqez, where the “woman, life, freedom” protests originated.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists and photographers were arrested during the protests in Iran. Of those, 80 have been released on bail, including Hamedi and Mohammadi, who were freed last January after spending 17 months in temporary detention.
Amini’s death sparked widespread protests calling for an end to the Islamic Republic.
The protests were eventually suppressed by a government crackdown, which left 500 people dead, 22,000 arrested, and 10 executed. EFE
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