Iranian journalists Nilufar Hamedi, left, and Elaheh Mohammadi were among the first to report on the death of Amini, a Kurdish woman, which sparked a massive wave of protest in Iran. They were arrested and branded enemies of the state.Mehrdad Aladin/dpa/Newscom
Two Iranian journalists currently jailed by their country’s regime have been awarded the World Association of News Publishers’ 2023 Golden Pen of Freedom.
Elahe Mohammadi and Niloofar Hamedi received the award for their separate reporting on the aftermath of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jhina) Amini’s death while in the custody of Iran’s Morality Police last September. Ms. Amini had been detained for breaking strict hijab rules and her death sparked widespread protests in Iran.
The Golden Pen of Freedom recognizes individuals or organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to the defence and promotion of press freedom. The news publishers’ organization said the 2023 award recognizes the bravery and determination “of two courageous young women whose journalism kept sight of truth as the Iranian regime attempted to rewrite history.”
“What both women were doing is precisely their job as journalists,” said Martha Ramos, editorial director of Organización Editorial Mexicana in Mexico and president of the World Editors Forum. Ms. Ramos announced the award Wednesday in Taipei, Taiwan, during the 2023 World News Media Congress.
“The Iranian people will not remain in a state of denial or servitude to tyrants, totalitarians and those who deny basic human dignity,” she said.
Ms. Mohammadi and Ms. Hamedi were arrested and incarcerated by Iranian forces who were attempting to suppress the story and the growing nationwide uprising. Both journalists were accused by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and the intelligence agency of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard for planning to orchestrate nationwide protests with their reporting and conspiring with multiple foreign intelligence agencies to undermine Iran’s national security.
Ms. Mohammadi is a reporter for the daily newspaper Hammihan. The 36-year-old had travelled to cover Ms. Amini’s funeral, during which thousands of people chanted “Jin, Jian, Azadi” (woman, life, freedom). She was arrested Sept. 29.
Seven days earlier, Ms. Hamedi, a reporter for the reformist daily newspaper Shargh, was arrested for breaking the news of Ms. Amini’s death and reporting on her treatment by the Morality Police, including publishing photos of Ms. Amini lying brain dead in hospital and her devastated parents embracing.
The organization said both women are expected to face unfair trials by revolutionary courts. In all, an estimated 60 journalists – 22 of them women – have been arrested since September in Iran.
This is the fourth Golden Pen of Freedom awarded to Iranian journalists since the award’s inception in 1961.