**LONDON** — Acclaimed Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, according to reports over the weekend coinciding with Iran’s National Journalist Day.
Moaiery, whose career has focused on documenting political dissent, protests, and the lives of women in Iran, faced trial at Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. According to Moaiery, she was not provided with official documents detailing the case against her; instead, details were copied by hand from a charge sheet by an accompanying friend. Human rights organizations stated that the practice underscores a lack of transparency within the Iranian judicial system.
Reuters reported it could not independently verify the contents of the charge sheet. However, handwritten notes obtained by the news agency listed accusations that Moaiery gave interviews to media organizations deemed hostile by the government and provided photographs to entities connected to the United States and Israel.
The sentence was issued under a law introduced following a 12-year war between Israel and Iran in 2025. Iranian authorities state the legislation aims to combat espionage and cooperation with hostile nations. Under the new statute, Moaiery has 10 days to appeal the conviction, half the timeframe allowed under previous legislation.
Moaiery stated to Reuters that the intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) raided her home during anti-government protests in January, confiscating her phone, laptop, and electronic equipment. She said IRGC officers returned after U.S. air strikes on Iran this year, seizing her remaining belongings, including cameras she had owned since childhood.
Moaiery acknowledged sharing photographs of air strike damage in Iran with CNN and participating in a CNN interview regarding her reporting in March 2026.
Roya Boroumand, executive director of the U.S.-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran, said the withholding of formal case documents was an effort to silence defendants, accusing the judiciary of acting directly as an arm of the state.
A spokesman for Iran’s United Nations Mission in New York did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
Moaiery has previously faced imprisonment for her journalistic work. She was jailed for three months and later given an eight-year sentence for covering the nationwide “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests sparked by the 2022 death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Although an amnesty later reduced that sentence, Moaiery noted that the case left her continually vulnerable to state pressure and questioning. She also previously spent two years detained in Gharchak Prison, a facility she had photographed during her career.
Article and image source: iranherald.com
