Iranian security forces arrested Iranian journalist Farzaneh Yahya-Abadi on October 19, 2022.
Yahya-Abadi is a freelance reporter covering local news in the southern city of Abadan in Khuzestan Province for a variety of local news websites and newspapers including state-run Abadan Khabar. She was previously a reporter at the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
According to a source with knowledge of Yahya-Abadi’s case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, the journalist was covering national protests for local Abadan newspapers in the leadup to her arrest.
Protests began in Iran following the September 16 death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, after morality police arrested her for allegedly violating the country’s conservative dress law.
According to a report in exile-run news website IranWire and CPJ’s source, Yahya-Abadi was arrested from her office and is detained in Abadan Central Prison.
CPJ was unable to determine what, if any, charges the journalist faces, or the status of the journalist’s health in prison.
Authorities arrested dozens of journalists as the protests over Amini’s death spread across the country. Several of them were later released on bail.
CPJ emailed Iran’s mission to the United Nations in late 2022 for comment on the cases of imprisoned Iranian journalists but received no response.