CNN
—
An Iranian couple who are social media influencers have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms after a video surfaced of them dancing in the main square of the capital Tehran.
In a video widely shared on social media, Astyaz Hagigi, 21, is seen dancing without a headscarf with her fiancée Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22, at Azadi Square. The couple posted the video themselves.
According to the activist group Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), each has been charged with “pervasive corruption and vice” and “gathering and conspiring to disrupt national security.” was sentenced to ten and a half years.
However, news agency Mizan, which is affiliated with Iran’s judiciary, said each individual was sentenced to five years in prison for “gathering and conspiring to disrupt national security.”
The two have been accused of inciting riots in an Instagram post made on Oct. 26 that urged people to assemble, Mizan Online said.
Judge Abolqasem Salavati presided over and handed down their case, along with a two-year ban on posting videos on social media and a two-year deportation ban, according to HRANA.
Security forces first raided the couple’s home in the early hours of October 30, took them for questioning, and then transferred them to prison, sources told CNN.
Hagigi was initially sent to Ward 209 of Evin Prison, but was later transferred to Kalchak Women’s Prison where she is currently being held, HRANA reports. Both Haghighi and her partner have been denied access to her lawyer, she added.
Haghighi and Ahmadi each have nearly 1 million followers on Instagram and also have separate YouTube channels with over 500,000 total followers.
This comes after the country has been rocked by nationwide protests over the custodial death of Masa Amini, a young woman accused of ignoring the country’s mandatory hijab law. Iran has stepped up its crackdown by executing protesters accused of killing security forces, a result of a hasty sham trial, critics say.
Their lengthy sentence has been compared by critics to that of Iranian Sajad Heydari, who was notorious for beheading his wife last year. Heydari, who killed his 17-year-old wife in February 2022, has just been sentenced to eight years and two months in prison, according to the country’s semi-official Khabar Online website.
