Iranian authorities have arrested one of the country's most famous actresses on charges of spreading falsehoods about the nationwide protests gripping Iran, state media reported on Saturday.
IRNA news agency says Taraneh Alidoosti, star of Oscar-winning film The Salesman, was arrested a week after making an Instagram post expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during nationwide protests. .
IRNA also said that other Iranian celebrities had "been cited by the judiciary for posting provocative content." He did not say how many or provide further details. According to the report published on the official state media Telegram channel, Alidoosti was arrested because she did not provide "any documents in line with her claims" about her.
In her post, the 38-year-old actress said: "His name was Mohsen Shekari. Every international organization that watches this bloodshed and fails to act is a shame on humanity." Shekari was executed on December 9 after being charged by an Iranian court with blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a member of the country's security forces with a machete.
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 dire 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 how quickly Iran is now carrying out death sentences imposed for alleged protest-related crimes.
Activists say at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings. Alidoosti has made at least three posts on her Instagram account expressing her solidarity with the protesters since the demonstrations broke out in September. His account, which had some 8 million followers, has been suspended. Iran has been rocked by protests since the death on September 16 of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being detained by morality police.
Since then, the protests have become one of the most serious challenges to Iran's theocracy installed by 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 he criticized police on Twitter in 2018 for assaulting a woman who had removed her veil.
Other movies Alidoosti has starred in are The Beautiful City and About Elly. Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi, two other famous actresses in Iran, were arrested by the authorities for expressing solidarity with the protesters on social media. Both are now free.
At least 495 people have been killed in the 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.
