Hengameh Ghaziani is a vocal critic of the suppression of protesters. (File)
France:
Iran has arrested a famous actor who in a video removed her hijab in public in an apparent defiance, state media reported on Sunday, as the Protests spread across the country.
Iran’s clerical leadership has been shaken by women-led protests that have dragged on for more than two months following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman of Kurdish descent who was arrested by police in Tehran. arrest.
Authorities in the Islamic republic described the protests as “riots” and accused the country’s Western enemies of instigating them.
Hengameh Ghaziani, a vocal critic of the crackdown on protesters, was arrested for inciting and supporting “riots” as well as communicating with opposition media, the official news agency IRNA said. .
The 52-year-old movie star said she was summoned by the judiciary, then posted an Instagram video of her taking off the mandatory headscarf.
“Perhaps this will be my last post,” she wrote late Saturday.
“From this moment on, whatever happens to me, know that as always, I will be with the Iranian people until my last breath.”
The video, which appears to have been filmed in a shopping street, shows Ghaziani facing the camera bare-headed without saying anything, then turning around and tying her hair into a ponytail.
In a post last week, she accused the Iranian government of “child killers” of “killing” more than 50 children.
According to the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website, Ghaziani was among eight people summoned to prosecutors for “provocative” material posted on social media.
They also include Yahya Golmohamdi, the coach of the Tehran Persepolis FC football team, who strongly criticized the players in the Iranian national team for not “bringing the voice of the oppressed to the ears of the authorities.” “.
The comments come after the national football team last week met with President Ebrahim Raisi ahead of their participation in the World Cup, which begins Sunday in Qatar.
Mizan said other prominent actors including Mitra Hajjar and Baran Kosari have also been summoned.
Earlier this month, Taraneh Alidoosti, one of the most popular Iranian actors still in the country, posted a photo of herself on social media without the mandatory headscarf.
Alidoosti vowed to stay in her homeland “at any cost”, saying she plans to stop working and instead support the families of those killed or arrested in the crackdown.
Iranian cinematic figures were under pressure even before the start of the protest movement due to Amini’s death.
Award-winning directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi remain in custody after their arrest earlier this year.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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