Iran sentences a couple to 10 years in prison for a dance in alleged support of the protests

Amir Mohammad Ahmadi and Astiaj Haguighi are a couple of bloggers, aged 22 and 21, respectively, whose only crime was dancing in the central Azadi (Freedom, in Spanish) square in Tehran, the Iranian capital, last October, when the protests in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini the previous month at the hands of morality police after being arrested for inappropriately wearing the mandatory headscarf.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
31 January 2023 Tuesday 04:36
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Iran sentences a couple to 10 years in prison for a dance in alleged support of the protests

Amir Mohammad Ahmadi and Astiaj Haguighi are a couple of bloggers, aged 22 and 21, respectively, whose only crime was dancing in the central Azadi (Freedom, in Spanish) square in Tehran, the Iranian capital, last October, when the protests in Iran over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini the previous month at the hands of morality police after being arrested for inappropriately wearing the mandatory headscarf.

The young couple recorded the scene and spread it on the internet. In Iran, dancing in public is prohibited and women can only do it in front of men if they are family members, not including the fiancé, as is the case. And even less without the hijab, as Haguighi appeared in the recording. The action was interpreted as a gesture of support for the demonstrations that spread throughout the country shouting "women, life and freedom", which later became a resounding "death to the dictator", in reference to the supreme leader of Iran. , Ayatollah Ruholah Mousavi Khomeini.

This interpretation is part of the sentence of 10 and a half years in prison each one that the Iranian justice system handed down against them. He also banned them from any internet activity as well as from leaving the country for two years after their release from prison, IranWire, an Iranian media outlet in exile, reported on Monday.

Section 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court accused them of "fomenting corruption, assembly and collusion with the intention of disturbing national security and disseminating propaganda" against the Islamic Republic, the same media reports.

The couple was violently arrested on November 1. "Plainclothes officers beat them and took them to ward 209 of the Ministry of Intelligence," IranWire said. They have been detained ever since, as they were denied bail and their relatives came under pressure to keep quiet. They were also unable to have the assistance of a lawyer in court.

Numerous Iranian and international NGOs have denounced the lack of guarantees in the trials held against hundreds of protesters detained since the outbreak of the protests in mid-September. The Islamic Republic has applied a strong hand against the movement, which has resulted in 527 deaths (including 70 police officers and 71 minors) and more than 19,000 arrests, of which more than 757 have been sentenced, four of them executed in hanging, according to the human rights group HRANA, which keeps a daily count of the deadly and repressive balance of the demonstrations.

As a consequence, the movement has been diminished. Most days in January there have been about three protests a day. However, the number rose to 18 last Monday, throughout the country, including the capital, a number more similar to that of the first months after the start of the demonstrations, according to the website of the organization Critical Threats, which monitors the Iran crisis. On the other hand, January 11 was the first day that no one took to the streets to protest since the wave of fury began on September 16. However, this organization warns that "the movement has not yet ended despite the decrease in participation in the protests."