Taraneh Alidoosti was arrested in Iran for criticizing the execution of an anti-regime protester. She is an actress who starred in the 2016 Oscar-winning film, The Salesman.” She condemned the hanging of Mohsen Shekari, the first known execution linked to the protests which began on September 23.
Shekari’s hanging was a public execution. A week later, a second man was publicly executed after a “sham” trial. The regime is progressively being more aggressive against protesters in order to intimidate them and put a halt to the demonstrations.
Shekari was executed on the charge of “waging war against God.” He allegedly stabbed a member of the Basji paramilitary force at a protest in Tehran on September 23.
Fars News Agency, an Iranian state media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, said Alidoosti was arrested because there was “a lack of evidence for her claims.’ On her Instagram account, Shekari posted, “Your silence means supporting tyranny and tyrants.” She added, “every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.” Those were her “claims” after Shekari’s execution.
She has since deleted her Instagram account.
Alidoosti is known as a feminist activist. She published a picture of herself last month on Instagram without a hijab. She held a sign reading, “Women, Life, Freedom” to show support for the protest movement. Iranian women began the anti-regime protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, who was accused of violating the dress code by the morality police. She allegedly was not wearing her headscarf correctly. The morality police arrested her, beat her, and she died in jail from her injuries. Women began to protest after her death and the protests have continued to grow and expand across the country since September.
So far, only men have been executed. At least as far as media reports have recorded. Last week a well-known soccer player was sentenced to death for participating in a protest. Earlier this month, 1200 university students suffered from food poisoning, an apparent deliberate attack to keep them from staging a three-day strike that was planned as a protest. The regime is using rape to punish protesters. Iranian security forces are using live ammunition against protesters, too. You get the picture – the response from the regime continues to escalate.
The news agency accused celebrities of making up claims against the regime. “Some celebrities make claims without evidence and publish provocations and have been thus arrested,” Far News Agency said in its report on Alidoosti.
A local group said it wasn’t clear which government department took Alidoosti into custody. She has appeared in various popular Iranian television shows. She is known for her activism in the #MeToo movement in Iran’s film industry. There were reports last month that she had left Iran but she denied that. “I will stand by the families of prisoners and the killed and will demand justice for them. I will fight for my home and I will pay any cost to stand for my rights,” she wrote. Apparently the price she will pay is imprisonment, at least for now.
Hundreds of Iranian protesters have been killed during demonstrations since September, according to Iran Human Rights, an organization based in Norway. Amnesty International reported that, as of November, Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 protesters. It is impossible for those outside of Iran to know precise numbers in either arrests or executions.
Part of the regime’s escalation appears to be arresting high profile people to strike additional fear in protesters. A famous soccer player and an Oscar-winning actress are being made examples of by the brutal Iranian regime. I’ll continue to say it would be good for Sleepy Joe to speak out in support of the protesters, in the name of human rights and freedom. That is what America used to stand for and U.S. presidents used to support those living in repressive regimes who were brave and bold enough to protest.
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