Branch 1027 of the Tehran Criminal Court 2 has sentenced Asal Dadashlou to a fine. This case was opened due to the republication of a BBC World report on the circumstances of Nika Shakarami’s death and tweets about the incident.
Asal Dadashlou announced her conviction on her X (formerly Twitter) account, stating that Branch 1027 of the Tehran Criminal Court 2 found her guilty of “spreading falsehoods” and fined her 6.6 million tomans.
On May 1, 2024, following reactions to the BBC World report on Nika Shakarami’s death, the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office indicted at least four journalists and media activists. Marzieh Mahmoudi, Asal Dadashlou, Hadi Kasaizadeh, and Mohammad Parsi were summoned and faced legal action after republishing the BBC report and tweeting about Nika Shakarami.
Previously, BBC News published a report titled “Nika’s Last Breath,” presenting a new account of the “murder” of Nika Shakarami, one of the victims of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022. This report sparked numerous reactions among Iranian citizens and media professionals.
According to the Defending Free Flow Of Information (DeFFI) organization, in May 2024 (April 30, 2024 – May 31, 2024), two events predominantly triggered the judicial and security mechanisms of the Islamic Republic to suppress journalists, media outlets, and social media users: the new account by BBC World on the death of Nika Shakarami and the mysterious helicopter crash that killed Ebrahim Raisi and his companions.
In May 2024, journalists, media activists, and media outlets—comprising 10 women, 27 men, and five media organizations—experienced at least 42 instances of security and judicial confrontations by the Islamic Republic. Seven journalists were arrested, and courts issued rulings in 13 cases against journalists and media outlets.