Iranian authorities have reportedly sentenced a couple caught dancing in the streets to 10 years in prison.
Astiyazh Haqiqi, 21, and her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22, posted a video of them dancing together in front of Tehran’s Azadi Tower, also known as the ‘Freedom Tower’.
A court found him guilty of “facilitating corruption and prostitution” and “conspiring against national security and propaganda against the regime”, the BBC reported.
Police also raided Haqiqi’s family home prior to his arrest.
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It is unclear whether the 10-year prison term applies to each or if it is a combined term. They were also handed a two-year social media ban and had to leave the country, The Guardian reported.
Women protest the death of Masa Amini, 22, who was detained by moral police in Tehran on October 1, 2022.
(AP Photo/Middle Eastern Images)
The US-based Human Rights Activist News Agency reported that the couple did not have a lawyer during the court proceedings and could not be released on bail, citing sources close to the family.
The couple are among the nearly 14,000 people who have been arrested in the past few months as the Iranian government continues to crack down on those believed to be linked to protests over the death of 22-year-old Masa Amini, who died in custody. are only two of Iranian moral police.
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The protests have since spread to more than 140 cities and towns across the country, making it one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the 1979 revolution. Rights groups said security forces used live ammunition, bird shots, tear gas and batons to disperse protesters.
Iranian couples have blatantly ignored several state laws, including those requiring women to wear headscarves and potentially banning unmarried couples from kissing in public. It is carrying out a peculiar act of defiance against the government.
(Foreigner Desk)
Celebrities, journalists, and professional athletes are among those jailed for their protests.
Another couple posted a video that went viral during protests against street kisses – It defied the country’s hijab (headscarf) law, which prompted the moral police to arrest Amini, as well as a law banning public affection for unmarried couples in Iran.
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As protests continued across the country, the Iranian government executed four people, two of whom were accused of killing members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer force in the first few weeks of the new year.
“Iran’s revolution is already happening,” Middle East expert and Foreign Desk editor-in-chief Lisa Daftali told Fox News Digital. “When couples felt comfortable enough to dance openly with their unmarried opposite sex, without wearing headscarves, and post their joy and courage online, how far this movement has already come. It indicates whether there is
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meets with General Ahmad Reza Radan in Iran on Saturday, January 7, 2023.
(Iran Supreme Leader’s Office via AP)
“The fact that the regime seeks to stop the celebration of life and symbols of freedom not only shows how repressive the mullahs have been for 44 years, but also shows how this current movement weakens their resolve. It shows how concerned we are,” added Daftali. “They model anyone who tries to show courage by kissing, dancing, singing, rapping. I’m doing
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Activists say at least 16 people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings over charges linked to the protests. Death sentences in Iran are usually executed by hanging.
At least 517 protesters were killed and more than 19,200 arrested, according to Iranian human rights activists, a group closely monitoring the riots. Absent.
The Associated Press contributed to the report.
