Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri, facing, hugs her mother, Muna Tareh-Sahouri, after being found not-guilty at the conclusion of her trial at the Drake University Legal Clinic, Wednesday, March 10, 2021, in Des Moines, Iowa.
(Kelsey Kremer/The Des Moines Register via AP, Pool)IOWA CITY, Iowa โ An Iowa jury on Wednesday acquitted a journalist who was pepper-sprayed and arrested by police while covering a protest, in a case that critics have derided as an attack on press freedoms and an abuse of prosecutorial discretion.
Robnett, 24, said he was sprayed and handcuffed after telling the officer that Sahouri was a Register journalist.
Sahouri was the first working U.S. journalist to face a criminal trial since 2018, according to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Another Register reporter, Katie Akin, was near Sahouri and quickly informed police that they were journalists.