Kurdish journalist Nazila Maroufian was sentenced to two years in prison, a fine of 15 million Tomans and a five-year ban on leaving Iran.
The Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran charged the 23-year-old journalist with “propaganda against the state” and “publishing lies with the intention of disrupting the public mind” for publishing interviews with Mahsa Jina Amini’s father.
The journalist wrote on her Twitter account that she was summoned to the court on 28 January and the sentence was formally communicated to her.
The verdict says that Maroufian’s two-year prison sentence was suspended for five years.
The court handed down the sentence without holding a court session and hearing the journalist’s defence, Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has learned.
Maroufian was arrested on 30 October 2022 on the orders of the Security Prosecutor’s Office located in Evin Prison.
During her detention, security interrogators pressured and threatened her to obtain forced confessions.
Due to these pressures, the journalist suffered two mild heart attacks while in detention. She was initially sent to the Mofatteh Hospital in the city of Ray, Tehran province, but was returned to prison before completing her treatment, KHRN has learned.
On 9 January, Maroufian was released from Qarchak Prison, in Tehran province, on a bail of 600 million Tomans – nearly 14,000 USD.
