An Iranian court on October 22 sentenced two female journalists to prison for their coverage of the 2022 death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
The state IRNA news agency reported that Niloofar Hamedi, 31, had been sentenced to seven years in prison, while Elahah Mohammadi, 36, was given a six-year sentence for "collaborating with the hostile U.S. government."
In addition, each was sentenced to five years for "acting against national security" and one year for "propaganda against the system," with those sentences to run concurrently with the longer terms.
Lawyers for the journalists said their clients rejected the allegations.
"Niloofar and Elahah should never have been jailed, and we condemn their sentences. The Iranian regime jails journalists because it fears the truth," Deputy U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Abram Paley said in a social media post.
Amini's death while in the custody of the so-called morality police for an alleged violation of Iran's strict Islamic dress code sparked months of national protests that became the most daunting challenge to the ruling theocracy in decades.
Hamedi was arrested after she took a photograph of Amini's parents embracing at a Tehran hospital while their daughter was in a coma. Mohammadi was arrested some time later after covering Amini's funeral in her hometown of Saqez.
The sentences are subject to appeal, which the defendants have 20 days to file. If they are upheld, the time the two women have already spent in custody would be deducted from the prison terms.
"The convictions of Niloofar Hamedi and Elahah Mohammadi are a travesty and serve as a stark testament to the erosion of freedom of speech and the desperate attempts of the Iranian government to criminalize journalism," said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Project Journalists.
Last year, Iran's Intelligence Ministry accused the two women of working for a U.S. intelligence agency.
Mohammadi is a reporter for the Ham Mihan newspaper, while Hamedi is a photographer for the Sharq newspaper.
Both have been held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison since September 2022.
Last week, Amini's lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, was sentenced to a year in prison for propaganda against the state and for making comments to foreign and domestic media about the case.