Their reports of a woman’s death sparked an uproar. Iran has tried them.

Iranian journalist Niloufar Hamedi specialized in covering women’s issues. So when her editor saw an Instagram post about a young woman in a hospital in bad shape after being arrested for violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code, Ms. Hamedi went straight to it.

She found relatives of the woman, Mahsa Amini, 22, holding each other tightly in a fluorescent-lit ward at Kasra Hospital in Tehran. She snapped one image and posted it to Twitter – and then it went viral. That was September 16, the day Mrs. Amini died.

Anti-government protests soon spread throughout Iran, sparking chants of “women, life, freedom”, and shook the country for months. But Ms Hamedi, 30, wasn’t there to see it: she had been arrested days after Ms Amini’s death.

A week later, 36-year-old Elaheh Mohammadi, a journalist who had traveled to Ms Amini’s hometown of Saghez to cover her funeral, was also imprisoned. After more than eight months in custody, both journalists were tried last week on charges of conspiring with foreign intelligence agencies to undermine national security.

“They are both full of life and passion, and they fought with their journalism to improve the lives and status of women in Iran,” said Amir Hossein, a journalist from Tehran. “Instead of investigating the causes and people behind Mahsa Amini’s death,” he added, “the regime started blaming the journalists who exposed it in the first place.”

“What can I say?” said Mr. Hossein. “That’s the reality of journalism in Iran.”

The protests, which lasted for months, have long since died down, ousted by a government crackdown that has left at least 573 people dead, according to human rights groups. But an official reckoning is underway for many of those involved: authorities have executed seven protesters and at least eight remain on death row. At least 95 journalists have been arrested, according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists.

Mrs. Hamedi and Mrs. Mohammadi have received widespread sympathy and acclaim in the West, even earning a spot in Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people this year.

“We rarely hear the details” of the authorities’ abuse of Iranian citizens, the quote said. Due to their coverage, it added, “This time was different.”

At home, however, Iranian officials gave high priority to prosecuting the two women.

A joint statement by Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence after their arrests accused them of inciting people to protest and claimed they were agents of enemy countries trained to cover inflammatory reports of Ms Amini’s death. publish to cause chaos.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called the statement “significant”.

Last month, closed-door trials began for both women in revolutionary courts, which the government uses to prosecute sensitive security-related cases. Little information has emerged from the proceedings, but Ms Hamedi’s husband, Mohamad Hossein Ajorlou, and a lawyer for Ms Mohammadi have said that the journalists’ lawyers were not allowed to speak in their defence.

Mr Ajorlou, who is also a journalist, said no family members were allowed to attend.

Ms Hamedi denied the allegations against her at the first hearing, saying she was simply doing her job as a journalist, her husband said on Twitter.

More than 500 Iranian journalists have signed a petition calling on the court to respect women’s legal rights. But many were afraid to speak to The New York Times about their case, and the few who did asked to be identified only by their first name out of concern for government repercussions.

“These two journalists have become icons of professional journalism in Iran despite all the restrictions and censorship,” said Asal, 31, a former reporter for the Shargh daily, where Ms Hamedi worked. “Their imprisonment is not just the imprisonment of two journalists, but the imprisonment of professional journalism in Iran.”

Both reporters had spent years preparing for a moment like Mrs. Amini’s death.

Ms. Hamedi, who was born in the northern Iranian city of Babolsar and has a master’s degree in physical education, first worked as a sports reporter. That led her to articles about Iran’s ban on women in sports stadiums, which, in line with the government’s strict requirements to preserve women’s modesty, prevented female fans from watching football and other sports in person.

She developed an appetite and a knack for women’s rights articles.

A investigated the discrimination, restrictions and domestic violence that had played a role in inciting some Iranian women to set themselves on fire. Another delved into Iran’s underground market for illegal abortions and the risks women faced in getting them.

Born in the city of Shahin Shahr in central Iran, Ms. Mohammadi studied Persian literature as a bachelor’s degree and obtained a master’s degree in gender studies. As a journalist for newspapers and news websites, she traveled to some of the most remote parts of the country to interview women about their experiences.

Her best-known work described sexual harassment and violence against women.

Today, the women held in Gharchak-Varamin Prison have little to do but make decisions bracelets of colorful thread for friends and family.

According to Instagram posts by her sister Elnaz Mohammadi, Ms Mohammadi has lost more than 20 pounds during her detention but has kept her spirits up.

According to a fellow prisoner, Ms. Hamedi is engaged in yoga, meditation and running, an activity she used to do with her husband.

In January, Mr. Ajorlou uploaded a photo of his wife smiling over a pan of homemade pizza, along with a recording of a phone call she made from prison. She read him a diary, as she often does, about baking a cheesecake for her fellow prisoners.

“Here,” she said, “in Gharchak-Varamin Prison, life still finds its way to us.”

In March, her husband wrote that he had run a marathon in her honor.

“Niloufar believes that serving a prison sentence is like training for a marathon,” he says said. “Suffering daily. But when you imagine the joy of the finish, all pain is nullified.

Five months after his wife’s imprisonment, Mr Ajorlou posted a letter of resignation he said he received from IRNA, an Iranian state news agency, after working there for 13 years. According to a screenshot, the letter said the agency no longer needed his services.