Prison sentence for journalist investigating Armita Geravand’s death in Iran

An Iranian court sentenced journalist Sara Masoumi to prison for investigating the death of Armita Geravand, a Kurdish girl who was murdered in October.

Sixteen-year-old Armita Geravand was detained by the so-called morality police in Tehran on 1 October and injured in what human rights groups said was an altercation with officials of the morality police in a Tehran metro because she was not wearing a headscarf. Geravand suffered a serious head injury after she was pushed against a pole by morality police officers in the metro. State media denied violence by the morality police. The 16-year-old, who was a taekwondo athlete according to her family, fell and hit her head due to low blood pressure. The Kurdish teenager was declared brain dead a and died in a hospital in Tehran on 28 October 2023 after 28 days in a coma. The young girl was laid to rest on at Beheshti Zera Cemetery in Tehran 30 October. Lawyer Nesrin Sotuteh, who attended the ceremony, was detained under violence and released after two weeks.

An Iranian court sentenced journalist Sara Masoumi to prison for investigating the death of Armita Geravand. According to Iranian media, lawyer Ali Muctahedzadeh said that the verdict against journalist Sara Masoumi was linked to an online publication questioning the cause of the young girl’s death.

"Masoumi was sentenced to six months in prison and a two-year ban from journalism for spreading false information," Sharq newspaper wrote.

Iranian journalist Maryam Lutfi was also briefly detained in Tehran in early October after travelling to the hospital to investigate Girawend's medical condition, according to Sharq newspaper.

The killing of Armita Geravand came only one year after the case of 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the so-called morality police on 13 September 2022 during a family visit in Tehran because she did not wear her hijab as prescribed. She was severely tortured and fell into a coma in custody and died on 16 September at the intensive care unit of Kasra Hospital in Tehran. 

The state femicide of Jina Mahsa Amini triggered a revolution under the motto "Jin, Jiyan, Azadî" (Woman, Life, Freedom) across the country. The women-led uprisings that spread from Rojhilat to the whole of Iran have created an irreversible revolution in people's minds, resulting in the deaths of at least 500 people and injuries to thousands more. Despite the family’s complaint against those responsible for Amini’s death, no action has been taken so far.