Iranian Actors, Filmmakers Show Support for Jailed Journalists

Iranian actors and film directors have met with the families of Elahe Mohammadi and Nilofar Hamedi, who have been imprisoned for nearly seven months for their journalistic work.

Prominent filmmakers Rakhshan Bani Etemad, Fatemeh Motamedarya, Amir Taftani, Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasulof, Mojtaba Mirtahamasb and Mina Akbari were among those attending the April 11 gathering aimed at showing solidarity with the two women journalists.

The attendees included women who were not wearing a mandatory headscarf.

Hamedi, a reporter for the Tehran-based Shargh Daily, and Mohammadi of the daily newspaper Hammihan were arrested in September for covering the events surrounding the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in police custody. Amini’s death sparked an ongoing wave of nationwide protests against the country’s clerical establishment.

Mohammadi and Hamedi are accused of “propaganda against the system” and “conspiring to act against national security,” charges that could carry the death penalty.

The two journalists are being held in Varamin’s Qarchak prison, Tehran province.

The authorities have responded to the women-led protest movement with a fierce crackdown in which hundreds of people were killed and thousands of others were unlawfully detained, including dozens of journalists. 

After biased trials, the judiciary has handed down stiff sentences, including the death penalty, to protesters.

Some of the detained journalists have been released, while others have been summoned or threatened and had their electronic equipment seized.