Four journalists critical of water cuts in Shahrood last year sentenced to prison and fines
In Shahrood, four journalists, Mehdi Ameri, Reza Zolfaghari, Mohammad Hossein Nademi, and Mustafa Sharif, have been sentenced by the criminal court to a total of 19 months in prison and a fine of 58 million rials.
The International Federation of Journalists announced in a report on Monday, April 23, that the four journalists were tried in Branch 104 of the city's Criminal Court, following a complaint by the governor of Shahroud following the publication of a critical report regarding the governor's performance regarding the water cut last summer.
According to this report, the court was held on Wednesday, March 18, and based on the verdict issued upon the complaint of the Shahroud governor, Mehdi Ameri was sentenced to 19 months in prison, Reza Zolfaghari and Mohammad Hossein Nademi were sentenced to pay a fine of 18 million rials, and Mustafa Sharifi was sentenced to pay a fine of 40 million rials.
According to the ruling, only 13 months of Mr. Ameri's prison sentence will be enforced, and half of Mustafa Sharif's 40 million rial fine has also been suspended for two years.
It is worth noting that these journalists have been responsible for managing the Telegram channels "Shahrood News", "Shahrood Channel", "Jarchi", and "Shahrood Virtual Activists' Association".
In part of its annual report on the state of human rights in the world, published on March 11, 2019, the US State Department addressed the Iranian regime's role in restricting the media, arresting reporters and journalists, and extending the scope of harassment of journalists' families to journalists working abroad.
In this report, the US State Department addressed the sentencing of Masoud Kazemi, editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Saade Parsi, to four and a half years in prison, the harassment and threats against the families of Iranian journalists working abroad, and the arrest of Marzieh Amiri, a reporter for the Sharq newspaper.
Source: Voice of America
