Iran on Thursday detained a reporter who covered the funeral of Mahsa Amini, her lawyer said, in the latest in a string of arrests of journalists since protests erupted over the young woman’s death in the custody of moral police.
Elahe Mohammadi was summoned by judicial authorities and detained by security forces en route for questioning, her lawyer, Mohammad Ali Kamfirouzi, said on Twitter.
Human rights NGOs accuse Iran of carrying out a wave of arrests of media professionals, especially those who covered Amini’s death. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 25 have been detained since the protests began.
Mohammadi covered for the Iranian daily Ham Mihan the funeral of Amini, a 22-year-old who died on September 16 after being detained in Tehran for not wearing the Islamic veil properly.
Amini’s funeral in his hometown of Saghez, in Kurdistan province, was one of the starting points for the protests, which have been going on for several days and have left dozens dead and injured.
Last week, security forces had already searched Mohammadi’s house in Tehran, his lawyer added.
Her husband indicated on Twitter that, in a brief phone call, the journalist told him that she was being transferred to Evin Prison in the Iranian capital, and that she was not informed of the charges against her.
In the same prison is Shargh newspaper reporter Niloufar Hamedi, who went to the hospital where Amini was in a coma and helped publicize the case to the world. Her husband said he still didn’t know what she was being accused of.
On Thursday, Iranian authorities issued an alert to celebrities who support the protests. “We will take action against the famous people who fanned the embers” of the “riots,” Tehran provincial governor Mohsen Mansouri was quoted as saying today by ISNA news agency.
Several Iranian athletes, actors and filmmakers support the movement and urged the authorities to listen to the population’s demands.
On Sunday, for example, Oscar-winning Iranian film director Asghar Farhadi urged the world to show “solidarity” with the protesters.
Former Iranian football star Ali Karimi also posted several messages of support for the protesters on his social media.
At the beginning of the week, the Iranian striker Sardar Azmoun, star of the national team and player of Bayer Leverkusen, said that he could not remain silent in the face of the countless deaths left by the repression.
Taliban fire on protesters in Kabul
In Afghanistan, the Taliban fired into the air at a demonstration of women outside the Iranian embassy in support of the Iranian women, with whom they claim to share the same struggle.
With chants of “woman, life, freedom”, 25 Afghans protested for 15 minutes in Kabul. They were dispersed by the Taliban, who fired shots into the air and tried to attack the protesters.
The Taliban tore up the posters displayed by them, which carried slogans such as “Iran stood up, now it’s our turn” and “From Kabul to Iran, say no to the dictatorship.” The women, some wearing sunglasses and masks, picked up the torn posters and formed paper balls to throw at the Taliban.
The gunmen also ordered journalists to delete footage of the protests.
In Oslo, where there was also a protest in front of the Iranian embassy on Thursday, protesters tried to break into the building and were held back by Norwegian police. Some of them had minor injuries.
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