Award-winning Iranian photojournalist on U.S. tour speaks to National Press Club
Yalda Moaiery, an Iranian photojournalist whose work has appeared in outlets such as the Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle, discussed her work and Iranian press freedom at the National Press Club on Nov. 9.
Moaiery was in the United States to accept the International Women's Media Foundation's Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award, which goes to a journalist who has been imprisoned. Moaiery is currently free on bail as she awaits trial in Iran after being arrested on Sept. 19, 2022, for her coverage of the hijab protests. When she was arrested, Moaiery suffered physical injuries and was taken with other women protesters to the Qarchak prison, a women-only detention facility south of Tehran, Iran. She spent three months in prison including a month in solitary confinement. She was released on bail on Dec. 20, 2022, and continues to work while awaiting her court date and potential trial even though she had her permit to perform photojournalism revoked by Iranian authorities. But she said she continues to perform photojournalism because she loves it. “I always wanted to show the realities to the world. The truth,” said Moaiery, who has reported from about 16 countries, including Pakistan and Somalia. “I chose this job because of it.”
Moaiery shared a memorable story with the audience about covering the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. After traveling for 24 hours by car from Iran, she crossed the Armenian border at midnight. She later had her passport, laptop and cash stolen in Georgia while covering the conflict. Though authorities from the Iranian Embassy in Georgia shared papers with her to allow her to get home, Moaiery said she was arrested at the Iranian border on her trip home because she didn't have a passport. Moaiery has been a photojournalist for 24 years. She covers conflicts and natural disasters, often focusing on women because they have it much harder than men in Iran, she said. Moaiery gained worldwide notoriety in early 2019 when a photo of hers was used by former President Donald Trump to criticize the Iranian government. Her photo shows a young woman holding her fist up in defiance while protecting herself from tear gas during protests. Trump used her photo without permission in a social media post.