Iranian courts have reduced jail terms for two female journalists who were charged with collaborating with the United States, their lawyers told reformist newspapers on Sunday, according to AFP.
Elaheh Mohammadi, 37, and Niloufar Hamedi, 31, are out on bail after more than a year in Tehran's Evin prison for their coverage of the September 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini which had sparked nationwide protests, according to the report.
In January, Iran's judiciary said it had launched new proceedings against the two women for posing for pictures without the mandatory headscarf upon their release that month.
Two separate appeals courts in Tehran ruled to acquit the women of the charge of collaboration with the United States, the lawyers said.
Mohammadi had originally been sentenced to six years in jail while Hamedi had been handed a seven-year sentence, according to the judiciary.
The pair were also each given five-year sentences for collusion and conspiring against state security and one year for propaganda against the Islamic republic.
The lawyers said these sentences were upheld by the appeals court and would be served concurrently, though they added they hope the journalists would be freed under an amnesty announced last year by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Amini, 22, died while in police custody after being arrested for allegedly not properly wearing her mandatory hijab.
The government crackdown on the demonstrations that followed Amini’s death resulted in hundreds of people being killed, including dozens of security personnel, and thousands arrested.
A fact-finding mission mandated by the United Nations said in March that Amini’s death was unlawful and caused by violence.