Internationally renowned actress Taraneh Alidoosti has been arrested amid protests in Iran. The 38-year-old was taken into custody on Saturday for spreading “false and distorted” information and “inciting chaos,” the Tasnim news agency reported.
Alidoosti had repeatedly expressed his solidarity with the protest movement in the online networks triggered by the death of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in September in the custody of the vice squad. The actress had also recently denounced the execution of young protester Mohsen Schekari. “Any international organization watching this massacre and not responding is a disgrace to humanity,” she wrote on Instagram about the execution.
Internationally known
Alidoosti starred in several films by renowned Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, including The Salesman, which won the 2017 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. She also plays the title role in Saeed Roustayi’s Leila and Her Brothers, which will be screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Even before the current wave of protests erupted, several prominent representatives of Iran’s film industry had been arrested this year, including internationally acclaimed directors Mohammed Rasulof and Jafar Panahi, who remain behind bars.
Hundreds of executions in 2022
More than 200 people have been killed in protests since September, according to Iranian sources. International human rights organizations estimate more than 450 deaths. Thousands of people were arrested. This year alone, Iran is said to have executed 550 people, many of them political prisoners and opponents of the regime.
The demonstrations are aimed, among other things, against the strict dress code for women. Amini, who died after her arrest, was accused of violating the rules on wearing a headscarf. (AFP/kes)