Jailed Iranian Journos Win Top US Award For Courage

Two Iranian journalists who were jailed for covering the killing of Mahsa Amini have been given a prestigious American award for dedication to the profession.

Elahe Mohammadi (right) poses with Niloofar Hamedi (left) in an undated photo. The two Iranian journalists were arrested in Tehran, Iran. (Newsflash)

Elahe Mohammadi and Niloofar Hamedi have been behind bars in Tehran for about six months.

They covered the killing of Mahsa Amini and were arrested in the first days of nationwide protests that are still gripping the country.

Now Mohammadi and Hamedi have now been given the Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism.

Their citation hails their “steadfast commitment to producing courageous journalism about issues in Iran affecting women, including the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.”

The award was given to them by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism’s class of 2023 at Harvard University, in the US state of Massachusetts.

Iranian forces have been battling waves of civil disorder following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, from Saqqez, Kurdistan Province.

She was on a visit to Tehran when she was arrested by morality police, accused of violating hijab rules on 13th September 2022.

Elahe Mohammadi poses in an undated photo. Mohammadi, who writes for Irans Ham Mihan newspaper, has been arrested for covering the funeral of Mahsa Amini, 22, who had spent three days in a coma following her arrest by Tehrans notorious morality police and died on Sept. 16, 2022. (Newsflash)

Mahsa was allegedly beaten while in custody and spent the following days in a coma in the hospital before dying in the ICU on 16th September.

The clinic where she was treated said in a now-deleted social media post that she had been admitted brain-dead.

Alleged medical scans of her skull leaked by hackers showed that she had suffered bone fractures, haemorrhages, and brain oedema.

Independent Iranian media have said that Mahsa’s medical records showing a history of heart disease that officials gave as the cause of death were faked by the Iranian government.

Numbers differ regarding how many people have been killed since the protests began.

The ongoing protests in Iran have killed at least 522 people, according to independent estimates.

It is also understood that more than 20,000 people have been arrested.