Iranian Photojournalist Sentenced To Work As Municipal Sweeper

Prominent Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery says she has been sentenced to six years in prison as well as community work as part of her punishment for covering anti-government protests.

In a video posted on Instagram on January 6, Moaiery appeared in an orange uniform cleaning a street with a sweep, saying she had been sentenced to work as a municipal sweeper for two months.

She said she was also banned from using a cellphone, being on social media, travelling abroad and living in the capital Tehran and neighboring provinces for two years.

On top of that, the photojournalist said she must write a 100-page research paper about the works of late scholar Morteza Motahhari.

Moaiery said she was sentenced on the charge of “gathering with the intention of committing a crime against the country's security and [spreading] propaganda against the system."

#یلدا_معیری، عکاس خبری با انتشار ویدیوی اعلام کرد بعد از ۲۳ سال کار عکاسی خبری در داخل و خارج از ایران، به دلیل پوشش تصویری #اعتراضات_سراسری اخیر به ۶ سال حبس تعزیری و پنج مورد احکام تکمیلی از جمله دو ماه فعالیت به عنوان #پاکبان محکوم شده‌ است.#خبرنگاری_جرم_نیست #مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/WG8doYmBJn

— ایران وایر (@iranwire) January 6, 2023

"By wearing this clothing, I wanted to announce that I have no problem with this respectable job and that I’m also proud of doing it while I'm not allowed to photograph the reality of my country," she said in the video.

Moaiery's photographs have been published by international magazines and newspapers such as Time, Newsweek, Le Monde, and El Pais, according to her website.

The photojournalist was arrested in Tehran on September 20 and released three months later amid a bloody state crackdown on protests that have swept Iran since September.

More than 60 journalists have been detained over the past weeks, while others have been summoned, threatened and had their electronic equipment seized.

In December, Reporters Without Borders listed Iran as the world’s third biggest jailer of journalists after China and Myanmar, with 47 detainees.