Iran has arrested two high-profile actresses for not wearing hijabs in public as an indication amid ongoing protests, in response to multiple reports citing state media.
For his or her protests, award-winning actresses Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi were arrested on suspicion of “collusion with the intention of acting against the state security” and “propaganda against the state,” the Latest York Times reported. The article cited IRNA, Iran’s state-run news agency.
Ghaziani, 52, on Sunday posted a video to her Instagram where she stands on a public sidewalk with out a headscarf — which is required for ladies in Iran. She then faces the camera before turning around to place her hair up right into a ponytail.
“Possibly this will probably be my last post,” she wrote. “From this moment on, whatever happens to me, know that as at all times, I’m with Iranian people until my last breath.”
Each she and Riahi, 60, have written posts on social media that were critical of the federal government’s violent response to protests which have erupted within the nation because the September death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old who was detained by the country’s morality police for not wearing her hijab in accordance with government standards and died in custody several days later.
“Do you not see what is occurring to Iranian children and youth?” Riahi shared in a post by her nonprofit Komak Charity Foundation. “Know they’re being beaten, interrogated and tortured of their schools.”
In Ghaziani’s video, she included a portrait painted by Saba Soleymani of 9-year-old Kian Pirfalak, whose family says he was killed by state security forces and is believed to be the youngest to die amid the continued crackdown of protesters.
Iranian courts have already sentenced a minimum of five protesters to death for collaborating in demonstrations. Critics have called the trials unfair, given an apparent lack of legal representation, in response to the BBC.
As of early November, a minimum of 328 people have been killed and 14,825 others arrested within the unrest, in response to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a bunch that has been monitoring the 2 months of protests.
Whilst Iranian officials tighten their grip on those that voice dissent, members of Iran’s national soccer team on Monday stood silent during their national anthem before their World Cup match against England. Players had their arms across each other’s shoulders, and didn’t sing the song. Loud booing might be heard in the course of the anthem from the massive group of the team’s supporters at Khalifa International Stadium, a few of whom held signs reading “Women, Life and Freedom.”
Iran’s captain, Ehsan Hajsafi had said a day prior to the match that “we have now to simply accept that the conditions in our country should not right and our people should not joyful.”
