[ad_1]
BBC confirmed the couple’s arrest came after they posted a video on social media.
CBS News reported that the Iranian state media outlet Mizan admit Haghighi and Ahmadi were not arrested for dancing, but for supporting resistance efforts in an Instagram post by “encouraging people to riot against the state and subversion.”
Mizan contested the 10-year sentence and claimed the couple received a five-year prison sentence for issuing a “call to protest.”
“It is clear that the anti-revolutionary forces have falsely reported the charges by claiming they were each sentenced to 10 years,” the Mizan news agency, the Islamic Republic’s judicial agency, reported Reuters.
“Astiazh Haghighi and Amir Mohammad Ahmadi published a call for a rally on November 4 and called for riots on their Instagram page,” Mizan said, according to CBS News. “During the riots, they used their pages to advertise calls, including a call for November 4.”
The pair were sentenced individually by a Tehran court to 10 years and 6 months in prison each, for a total of 21 years combined, for “promotion of impurity and indecency, assembly and collusion against national security, and propaganda against the regime,” Washington Post said Wednesday. The couple is also banned from social media and not allowed to leave the country for two years. While his profile remains public, there have been no posts on Haghighi’s feed since September 28, 2022. Ahmadi’s last post was in early September.
Iran has many protests against the theocratic rule of the government, and the authorities are cracking down. Much of the public dissent triggered last year by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by Iran’s moral police for wearing an improper hijab. Amini died a few days after his arrest.
Iranian officials began arresting public figures who spoke out against the government’s reaction to Amini’s death. This includes the arrest of famous actors Taraneh Alidoosti and celebrity chefs Navab Ebrahimi.
Haghighi spoke in support of Amini in September. In an Instagram post, he wrote, “I hope tomorrow will be better tomorrow. Let’s hold hands and support each other. We are all Iranians and we must help each other.
[ad_2]
Source link