Paris, France:
An Iranian court has handed down prison terms of more than 10 years each to a young couple who danced in front of one of Tehran’s main landmarks in a video seen as a symbol of resistance to the regime, activists said on Tuesday.
Astiyazh Haghighi and her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, both in their early 20s, were arrested in early November after a video went viral of them dancing romantically in front of Tehran’s Azadi Tower.
Haghighi did not wear a headscarf despite the Islamic Republic’s strict rules for women, while women in Iran are also not allowed to dance in public, let alone with a man.
This couple has been sentenced to 10.5 years in prison for this public dance in Tehran’s Azadi Square. It’s hard to believe how little moments of joy are so violently crushed by IR. Public dancing has become one of the most powerful forms of resistance in Iran. #MahsaAminipic.twitter.com/Yz3NpFBwIn
— Fatemeh (Shahrzad) Shams (@ShazzShams) January 30, 2023
A revolutionary court in Tehran sentenced them each to 10 years and six months in prison, as well as a ban on internet use and leaving Iran, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
The couple, who already had a following in Tehran as popular Instagram bloggers, were convicted of “encouraging corruption and public prostitution” and “gatherings with intent to disrupt national security,” it added.
HRANA quoted sources close to their families as saying they had no lawyers during the court proceedings, while attempts to secure their bail were rejected.
It said Haghighi is now in the notorious Qarchak prison for women outside Tehran, whose conditions are regularly condemned by activists.
Iranian authorities have vigorously suppressed all forms of dissent since the September death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly violating the headscarf rules, sparked protests that have turned into an anti-regime movement.
At least 14,000 people have been arrested, according to the United Nations, ranging from prominent celebrities, journalists and lawyers to ordinary people who took to the streets.
The video of the pair has been hailed as a symbol of the freedoms demanded by the protest movement, with Ahmadi at one point lifting his partner into the air as her long hair flowed back.
One of the most important icons of the Iranian capital, the gigantic and futuristic Azadi (Freedom) Tower is a place of enormous sensibility.
It was opened under the rule of the last Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the early 1970s when it was known as the Shahyad Tower (in memory of the Shah).
It was renamed after the Shah was ousted in 1979 with the establishment of the Islamic Republic. The architect, a member of the Bahai faith not recognized in present-day Iran, now lives in exile.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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