Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were among the first reporters to cover Jina Mahsa Amini's death in September 2022. They were both charged with colluding with the US government among other things last year. Two Iranian journalists who were serving long prison sentences for their coverage of the death of Jina Mahsa Amini have been released on bail pending their appeal, Iranian media reported Sunday. The two journalists, Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, were among the first to report on Amini's death in police custody following her incarceration for supposedly wearing her headscarf improperly.  The young Kurdish woman's death prompted widespread protests throughout the country — typically involving young women demonstrably uncovering their hair in public — and subsequently a crackdown from authorities in Tehran. The two journalists were greeted by relatives and supporters upon their release from custody on Sunday. However, they have since been charged with not wearing the mandatory hijab in photos taken after their release that were widely shared on social media. "After footage of the defendants without hijab was released online, a new case has been filed against them," the Iranian judiciary’s Mizan news portal said on Monday. Bail for the pair combined equates to around a century's salary for average earner in Iran The two journalists were charged last year by a court in Iran for collaborating with the US government among other things. They were sentenced to up to seven years in prison, the judiciary news ageny Mizan had reported. Hamedi wrote for the daily newspaper Shargh and Mohammadi covered social issues and gender equality for the newspaper Ham-Mihan. They were jointly awarded UNESCO's world press freedom prize in May of 2023. The bail was set at roughly $200,000 (around €180,000) and their release is pending their appeal hearing. They were forbidden from leaving the country before trial. $200,000 equates to about 50 years' salary for a person earning Iran's estimated GDP per capita of around $4,000 per annum. Some 100 journalists were also arrested amid the demonstrations that spread across the country following Amini's death, as Iran sought to repress information on them at home and abroad. Thousands still detained over protests against Amini's death Amini's death on September 16, 2022, after being detained by the country's morality police for allegedly not wearing the hijab headscarf properly, sparked widespread outrage in the country. Mass wave of protests swept the country, posing one of the most serious challenges to Iran's theocratic establishment since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Iranian forces heavily cracked down on protesters, detaining thousands of people, from university professors to bereaved family members of those killed during the very demonstrations. Iran has not offered any casualty figures but acknowledged thousands of detentions. Human rights groups in Iran say at least 529 peole were killed in Iran and more than 19,000 detained during the crackdown on the 2022 and 2023 protests.

A Myanmar court on Friday rejected the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of breaking the Official Secrets Act, saying the defence had not provided sufficient evidence to show they were innocent. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were convicted by a lower court in September in a landmark case that has raised questions about Myanmar's progress towards democracy and sparked an outcry from diplomats and human rights advocates, reports Reuters. "It was a suitable punishment," said High Court Judge Aung Naing, referring to the seven-year prison term meted out by the lower court. The defence has the option of making a further appeal to the country's supreme court, based in the capital Naypyitaw. "Today's ruling is yet another injustice among many inflicted upon Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. They remain behind bars for one reason: those in power sought to silence the truth," said Reuters Editor-in-Chief Stephen J Adler in a statement. "Reporting is not a crime, and until Myanmar rights this terrible wrong, the press in Myanmar is not free, and Myanmar's commitment to rule of law and democracy remains in doubt." In their appeal arguments made last month, defence lawyers had cited evidence of a police set-up and lack of proof of a crime. They told the appeal court the lower court that tried the case had wrongly placed the burden of proof on the defendants. The defence also said prosecutors had failed to prove the reporters gathered and collected secret information, sent information to an enemy of Myanmar or that they had an intention to harm national security. The judge said the defendants did not follow journalistic ethics and that the court could not determine whether the arrest of the reporters was a trap. Khine Khine Soe, a legal officer representing the government, told the appeal hearing that the evidence showed the reporters had collected and kept confidential documents. He said they intended to harm national security and the national interest. Before their arrest, the reporters had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys by security forces and Buddhist civilians in western Myanmar's Rakhine State during an army crackdown that began in August 2017. The operation sent more than 730,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh, according to United Nations' estimates. MHK