TEHRAN – Iran’s Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi on Tuesday said that Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi cooperated with the U.S. government and that’s why they got arrested.

The spokesman said a thorough report will soon be released on the detention of the two female journalists. He also rejected the premise that Hamedi and Mohammadi were arrested due to reporting on Mahsa Amini’s death.

Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old woman whose sudden death sparked riots in Iran in September of 2022. Western-funded media claimed she had been beaten to death by morality police while CCTV footage and leaked hospital photographs and records showed she had had no confrontation with police and that she passed away due to a long-lasting illness.