DUBAI (Reuters) – An Iranian court acquitted two imprisoned journalists of collaborating with the United States and reduced their sentences over reports of the death of a woman who helped spark protests in 2022, the worst internal unrest Iran has seen in decades.
Judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said in a press conference on Sunday that Niloufer Hamidi and Elahmohammadi, who were sentenced a year ago to 13 and 12 years in prison respectively, had their sentences reduced to five years.
“They were acquitted of the charge of collaborating with the United States in the Court of Appeal,” Jahangir said.
The two journalists were imprisoned for covering the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini while in the custody of morality police on charges of violating Iran’s Islamic dress code.
Her death sparked nationwide protests in late 2022 and 2023, which developed into the largest internal unrest in Iran since the 1979 revolution that brought Iran’s theocratic rulers to power.