Key facts
- Photojournalist Yalda Moaiery sentenced to 15 years in prison.
- Sentence issued under a 2025 law targeting espionage and cooperation with hostile states.
- Charges include interviews with 'hostile' media and providing photos to U.S. and Israeli organizations.
- Moaiery's electronic equipment was confiscated during a raid in January.
- She has previously been imprisoned for her reporting on dissent and women's lives in Iran.
Acclaimed Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery has been sentenced to 15 years in prison under a law enacted in 2025, which Iranian authorities state is intended to combat espionage and cooperation with hostile states. The sentence was handed down on Iran's National Journalist Day.
Moaiery, known for documenting dissent and women's lives in Iran, was accused of giving interviews to media outlets deemed hostile and providing photographs to organizations linked to the U.S. and Israel. She stated that she was not given formal case documents at the Revolutionary Court, a procedure rights groups say reflects a lack of transparency in Iran's judicial system.
According to Moaiery, the intelligence wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps raided her home during anti-government protests in January, confiscating her phone, laptop, and other electronic equipment. She also reported that IRGC officers seized her belongings again after U.S. air strikes on Iran this year.
Moaiery has a history of imprisonment for her work. In 2022, she was sentenced to eight years for covering the "Woman, Life, Freedom" uprisings, though an amnesty later reduced the sentence. She previously served two years in Gharchak Prison. Reporters Without Borders reports that 16 journalists have been detained in Iran this year.
Despite the legal challenges and prospect of further imprisonment, Moaiery expressed her continued commitment to documenting the realities of Iranian society, stating, "I don't have anything to lose. The regime took everything from me and the only thing that I still have is my truth and honesty as an observer."