Iran court reduces jailed journalists’ sentence, clears US collaboration charge.
An Iranian court has reduced the prison terms of two journalists while acquitting them of collaborating with the United States.
Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, earlier sentenced to 13 and 12 years respectively for their coverage of Mahsa Amini’s death, will now serve five years each.
Their coverage of the woman’s custodial demise that sparked mass protests in 2022 was a case of collaborating with America as per the earlier verdict.
However, Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir informed on Sunday that the appeals court has cleared them of the US collaboration charge.
The demonstrations were Iran’s biggest domestic unrest in over four decades challenging the clerical establishment.
Hamedi and Mohammadi were imprisoned for a year for their reporting on the issue in major newspapers.
While their revised sentences continue to keep them behind bars, the significant charge removal comes as a relief amid an intimidating environment for scribes in the country.
