Tehran: The Iranian authorities has arrested the lawyer of two female journalists imprisoned for their coverage of the death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, local media reported.
The prominent lawyer, Mohammad Ali Kamfirouzi, who is the lawyer of a number of political activists and two Iranian journalists, has been arrested on Wednesday, December 14.
As per media reports, Kamfirouzi’s family announced that he was arrested while he was at the Justice Office in Tehran to carry out his work and follow up on the file of the two journalists, without providing any details about the charge against him or the reasons for the arrest.
Kimfirouzi is the lawyer of 30-year-old Nilofar Hamedi and 35-year-old Elahe Mohammadi, the two female journalists arrested after covering Amini’s death and its aftermath.
Nilofar Hamedi, who works at Shargh newspaper, was detained on September 20 after visiting the hospital where Amini had spent three days in a coma before her death.
Elahe Mohammadi, a journalist at Ham Mihan, was taken into custody on September 29 after she traveled to Amini’s hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan.
Kamfirouzi’s lawyer, Mohammad Ali Bagharpour, told Ham Mihan that his client had not received a summons, was not aware of the charges against him and that he had been detained without any legal process.
It is noteworthy that more than 300 Iranian journalists and photographers criticized in an open letter – the Iranian authorities for “arresting their colleagues and depriving them of their rights.”
Iran has been witnessing protests since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, on September 16, after she was arrested in Tehran by the morality police on suspicion of not respecting the country’s dress code.
