Iran arrested one of the country's most renowned actresses on Saturday after she voiced support for the three-month-old protest movement that was started in response to the death of a woman in detention. Taraneh Alidoosti, 38, was arrested on charges of "spreading falsehoods" about the protest movement that has gripped the nation.
Alidoosti, star of the Oscar-winning movie 'The Salesman,' was arrested a week after she made a post on social media expressing solidarity with the first man recently executed for crimes allegedly committed during the protests. Alidoosti attracted attention in November after sharing a photo of herself on Instagram without a headscarf to show support for the protests.
Behind The Bars
Alidoosti, 38, was detained for "publishing false and distorted content and inciting chaos," the Tasnim news agency reported. The most recent social media update from Alidoosti was made on December 8, the same day that Mohsen Shekari, 23, became the first protester to be executed by the authorities.
"Your silence means the support of the oppression and the oppressor', read text on an image shared to her Instagram account.
"Every international organization who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity," Alidoosti captioned the post.
According to a post on the Telegram account of the state news agency IRNA, Alidoosti was taken into custody by the police for failing to offer "any documentation in line with her statements,".
Alidoosti's Instagram account, which had more than eight million followers, was suddenly deleted. She is one of Iran's most popular actresses and starred in The Salesman, which took home the Best International Feature Film Oscar in 2016.
However, since the protest movement began, she has become a prominent opponent of the Iranian government's efforts to clamp down on the widespread unrest that was prompted by the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in September.
Raising Her Voice
She recently appeared in the movie "Leila's Brothers," which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival this year. She had earlier shared a photo of herself on her Instagram profile clutching a piece of paper that stated, "Women, Life, Freedom" while she was not wearing the hijab.
Alidoosti also uploaded a photo to Instagram on the day that Amini died with the caption, "Damnation to this captivity."
"Don't forget what Iran's women go through' and asked people to 'say her name, spread the word," she wrote in the caption.
Iranian protester Majidreza Rahnavard, 23, was publicly hanged on December 12 just days after Shekari was put to death. Also, death penalty has been imposed on nine other people who were detained in relation to the incident.
Since the protests began, thousands of individuals have been jailed, and 400 have been given prison terms of up to 10 years for their role in the unrest, according to Iran's judiciary on Tuesday. Since the Iranian government's ascent to power in the 1979 revolution, the protest movement has emerged as one of its most significant opponents.
