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Iranian security forces have arrested a journalist after she published an interview with Mahsa Amini’s father, whose death sparked seven weeks of anti-regime protests, a human rights group said on Friday.
Norway-based Hengaw rights group said Nazila Maroufian, a Tehran journalist from Amini’s hometown of Sakiz in Kurdistan province, was detained on Sunday.
She was arrested at the home of a relative in Tehran and transferred to Evan prison in the capital, it added, citing phone calls she made to her family.
Maroufian, who works for the Ruydad 24 news site, published an interview with Amini’s father, Amjad, on the Mostaghel Online news site on 19 October.
“I have neither planned suicide nor any underlying disease,” she commented sarcastically when posting a link to the article, alluding to the dangers Iranian journalists face in reporting the story.
read more: Iranian female journalist who broke the news of Massa Amini’s death was branded as a CIA agent
She also said she was unable to publish an interview for several days and her family was threatened.
Mostaghel has since pulled the piece, but a cached version shows the father denied his daughter had any underlying medical conditions.
Amini’s family argued that she was fatally hit while in police custody. Iranian authorities disputed that, but anger over her death sparked a wave of protests.
Amjad Amini said he was told by a health official that he would write “whatever I like, it’s none of your business” in the final report.
The interview was titled: “Mahsa Amini’s father: ‘They’re lying!'”
Two Iranian journalists who helped bring Amini’s story to the world’s attention have been arrested and spent their final month in Evan prison.
Niloufar Hamedi reported for Iran’s Shargh newspaper at the hospital where Amini was in a coma for three days before she died. The journalist was arrested on September 20, her family said.
Elahe Mohammadi, a reporter for the Ham Mihan newspaper, traveled to Saqez to cover Amini’s funeral, which became one of the earliest protests. She was detained on 29 September.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 54 journalists have been arrested in the crackdown and 12 have so far been released on bail.
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