--- description: Find out why Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd5efa04e4eace52/698a3bd5457a520695d67796/Niloufar-Hamedi-Elahe-Mohammadi-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi by Jason Rezaian  A woman looks at a picture of Iranian reporters Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi posted on twitter, in Nicosia on November 2, 2022\. - Concern is growing over the fate of the two Iranian reporters who helped bring the worlds attention to the death of Mahsa Amini but have been jailed for the past month and are now targeted by what activists see as a smear campaign to portray them as spies. (Photo by Christina ASSI / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTINA ASSI/AFP via Getty Images) A woman looks at a picture of Iranian reporters Niloufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi posted on twitter, in Nicosia on November 2, 2022\. - Concern is growing over the fate of the two Iranian reporters who helped bring the worlds attention to the death of Mahsa Amini but have been jailed for the past month and are now targeted by what activists see as a smear campaign to portray them as spies. (Photo by Christina ASSI / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTINA ASSI/AFP via Getty Images)Christina Assi—AFP/Getty Images [Mahsa Amini](https://time.com/6216513/mahsa-amini-iran-protests-police/ "undefined")—arrested in Tehran and charged with not covering her hair properly—left the police station barely alive. This kind of brutality happens in Iran, but we rarely hear the details. Victims and their families suffer in silence for fear of inviting even more abuse. This time was different. A reporter named Niloofar Hamedi broke the story, publishing photographs of Amini lying brain-dead in the hospital, and devastated family members embracing in the hall. Elaheh Mohammadi covered the funeral, which doubled as [a protest that soon spread across Iran](https://time.com/6220853/iran-protests-mahsa-amini-what-to-know/ "undefined"). It was the kind of journalism that earns accolades in any normal society. Hamedi and Mohammadi have instead been rewarded with excruciating limbo. They were [arrested](https://time.com/6234737/iran-protesters-sentences-death-penalty/ "undefined") and remain in Evin Prison. The charges—conspiring with the intelligence agencies of foreign powers to undermine Iran’s national security—are as farcical as they are severe. Journalism has been dying a slow death in Iran. Brave domestic reporters are the lone reason its light still flickers. The arrests of Hamedi and Mohammadi—and of nearly 100 other journalists since the protests started—show how far the regime will go to extinguish it. _Rezaian is a Washington_ Post _writer who was imprisoned by Iran for 544 days_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270464/niloofar-hamedi-and-elaheh-mohammadi/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270464/niloofar-hamedi-and-elaheh-mohammadi/"},"headline":"Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:03.388Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270464/niloofar-hamedi-and-elaheh-mohammadi/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023","T100Pioneers2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd5efa04e4eace52/698a3bd5457a520695d67796/Niloufar-Hamedi-Elahe-Mohammadi-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd5efa04e4eace52/698a3bd5457a520695d67796/Niloufar-Hamedi-Elahe-Mohammadi-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270464/niloofar-hamedi-and-elaheh-mohammadi/","name":"Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270464/niloofar-hamedi-and-elaheh-mohammadi/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6270464/niloofar-hamedi-and-elaheh-mohammadi/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```