The Iranian judiciary has sentenced a young couple who drew attention to themselves with a dance video. As the justice portal Misan announced on Wednesday, Astijazh Haghighi (21) and her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi (22) were sentenced to five years in prison for violating national security. The two bloggers called for protests on social media, the accusation was.
The judiciary thus contradicted the representation of activists. According to information from the activists, the bloggers were each sentenced to more than ten years in prison by a revolutionary court in Tehran after the publication of a dance video. Ahmadi and Haghighi were arrested in early November, the US-based organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported.
A video showed the two bloggers dancing and Haghighi without a headscarf in front of the Freedom Tower in the capital, Tehran. Both are banned in public in Iran. There was no information as to when the video was released. According to activists, the couple was also convicted of “spreading depravity.”
The latest wave of protests in Iran was triggered by the death of the Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody in mid-September. She had been arrested by the so-called vice police for violating Islamic dress codes. Street protests have abated in recent weeks. Many women now express their displeasure through civil disobedience, for example by ignoring the compulsory headscarf.
