athletes, actresses and other public figures are being targeted by the Iranian authorities for their support for the protests that are rocking the country, which seek to silence them with death sentences, arrests and the confiscation of their assets.
The latest cases include footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani, who faces the death penalty for his alleged involvement in the murder of three security officers, and actress Taraneh Alidoosti, who was arrested for reporting on the executions of protesters.
Are public figures and many more are facing Iranian justice for their participation or support in the protests that have rocked Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by wear the wrong veil in September, carried out above all by young people and women who are calling for the end of the Islamic Republic.
Athletes, actresses and artists are actually a small part of the people who participated in or supported the protests, but the authorities they fear their ability to influence, amplify messages or mobilize the population.
the protests have decreased in intensity in the last few weeks after more than three months of mobilizationsnearly 500 dead, 18,000 arrested, 400 prison sentences in Tehran alone, 11 phrases to hang and two executions, the last of which was public.
international rejection
The case of Nasr-Azadani has caused a special international rejection and even singer Shakira he defended it on Twitter shortly before the World Cup final in Qatar.
The footballer is accused for his alleged participation in the assassination of three security agents on November 16 in the city of Isfahan of “moharebeh” or “enmity with god”, a crime that can carry the death penalty, something that its environment denies, while admitting it participated in the mobilizations asking for more freedom.
This is the case of karateka Mohamad Mehdi Karamí, 22, sentenced to death for his alleged participation in the murder of a basiji -Islamic militant- in Karaj, near Tehran, and who could become the third executed for his involvement in le protests.
“I respectfully ask the judiciary, please, please, do it cancel the death penalty in my son’s case,” said the father of the karateka, Mashallah Karami, in a video posted on Twitter, which has not been verified by EFE.
Another case is that of Eshragh Najafabadi, who was part of the Iranian national mountain biking and mountaineering teams and who may also be sentenced to death.
The cyclist appeared in a video last week along with four other climbers confessing their involvement in a bomb attempt in the southern city of Shiraz.
Public confessions are common in the Persian country and in international human rights groups They report being forced.
Iranian football legend Ali Daei also had a run-in with Iranian justice when he announced he would shut down his businesses in support of a strike earlier this month and authorities responded with cmissing his Tehran restaurant and jewelry store.
the world of cinema
Another group that has supported the protests and drawn the fury of the authorities is film world, the Iranian cultural sector with a more international projection.
The actress Taraneh Alidoosti was arrested on Saturday “because of her actions in posting false and distorted content, inciting riots and supporting anti-Iranian movements” after condemning the execution of Mohsen Shekari on social media, the first hanged for participating in the protests
considered one of the best actress in IranAlidoosti had already published a video in November without a veil and with a sign that read “woman, life and freedom”, the slogan of the protests.
Alidoosti has won several awards throughout her career and was the protagonist of the film “The Salesman”, directed in 2016 by her compatriot Asghar Farhadi and which in 2017 won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Alidoosti isn’t the first actress to get into trouble for her support of the protests.
In November the interpreters Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi They were arrested for posting videos of them not wearing headscarves, which cost them charges of “intent to act against national security” and “propaganda against the state”, although they were released.
However, the arrests did not prevent new gestures from the world of cinema.
Actress and director Niki Karimi announced on Sunday the deletion of all your projects in an online message with the slogan “woman, freedom of life” in which she denounced “these months of suffocation and intimidation of ‘don’t say and don’t write'”.
The author is an EFE journalist
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.