- Taraneh Alidoosti was jailed after expressing solidarity with a man recently executed for protests.
Iranian authorities have arrested one of the country’s most famous actresses accused of spreading falsehoods about the nationwide protests that gripped the country, state media said on Saturday.
The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) report said Taraneh Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning film The Salesman, was jailed a week after she made an Instagram post expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during protests across the country.
IRNA also said several other Iranian celebrities had “been summoned by the judiciary for posting provocative content.”
He did not say how many or provide further details.
According to the report published on the state media’s official Telegram channel, Alidoosti was arrested because she did not provide “any documents in line with her claims.”
In her post, the 38-year-old actress said: “His name was Mohsen Shekari. Every international organization that is seeing this bloodshed and not taking action is a shame on humanity.”
Shekari was executed on 9 December after being accused by an Iranian court of blocking a Tehran street and attacking a member of the country’s security forces with a machete.
Speedy Death Sentences
Last week, Iran executed a second prisoner, Majidreza Rahnavard, in connection with the protests. Rahnavard’s body was left hanging from a construction crane as a warning to others. Iranian authorities alleged that Rahnavard stabbed two members of his paramilitary force.
Both men were executed less than a month after they were charged, underscoring the speed with which Iran is now carrying out death sentences imposed for alleged protest-related crimes. Activists have said at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings.
Alidoosti has made at least three posts on his Instagram account expressing solidarity with protesters since demonstrations erupted in September. His account, which had some eight million followers, has been suspended.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being jailed by the morality police. Since then, the protests have morphed into one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s governmental system, created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Alidoosti has previously criticized the Iranian government and its police force.
In June 2020, he received a five-month suspended prison sentence after criticizing police on Twitter in 2018 for assaulting a woman who had removed her headscarf.
Other films Alidoosti has starred in include, The Beautiful City and About Elly.
Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, two other famous actresses in Iran, were arrested by authorities for expressing solidarity with protesters on social media. Both have been released.
At least 495 people have been killed in demonstrations amid a harsh security crackdown, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has been monitoring the protests since they began.
More than 18,200 people have been detained by the authorities.
Source: Al Jazeera
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