Iran women journalists who broke news of Mahsa Amini's death branded CIA agents

Iran Anti-Hijab Protests: Both journalists are currently lodged in Iran’s Evin prison.

Two journalists who first broke the news of the death of 21-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran have been branded as CIA agents. Mahsa Amini's death was first reported by Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi. She died under Iran morality police’s custody as she was arrested for not wearing her hijab properly.

Iran Anti-Hijab Protests: A woman holds a placard with a picture of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini during a protest against her death. (AP)

Iran’s ministry of intelligence and the intelligence organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards on Saturday said that both journalists are currently lodged in Iran’s Evin prison.

Blaming the CIA, Mossad and other western intelligence agencies of engineering the nationwide protests in Iran following Mahsa Amini's death, the agencies accused the women journalists of being “primary sources of news for foreign media”.

Niloofar Hamedi, the statement said, pretended to be a journalist and coerced Mahsa Amini’s family to release information about their daughter’s death.

The first photos of Mahsa Amini were released by Niloofar Hamedi triggering protests in Tehran which then spread to other countries with at least 234 protesters, including 29 children, killed by security forces in crackdowns.

The two intelligence bodies also accused US of allocating billions of dollars to find elements in Iran and connect them to “Western networks under the cover of human rights activities and promotion of democracy.”