TEHRAN : Iran has arrested two prominent actors on charges of inciting mob and lending solidarity with ongoing protest movement and removed their headscarves in public. Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi were both detained after being summoned by prosecutors looking into their “provocative” social media posts, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said.
Iran’s clerical leadership has been shaken by more than two months of demonstrations sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman of Kurdish origin who had been arrested by the morality police in Tehran. Authorities in the Islamic republic describe the protests as “riots” and accuse the country’s western foes of fomenting them.
On Saturday, Ghaziani published a video on Instagram of her removing the hijab. “Maybe this will be my last post,” she wrote. “From this moment on, whatever happens to me, know that as always, I am with the Iranian people until my last breath.”
The video shows Ghaziani facing the camera without speaking and then turning around and binding her hair into a ponytail. In a post last week, she accused the “child-killer” Iranian government of “murdering” more than 50 children. Iranian state media said she was arrested for inciting and supporting the “riots” and for communicating with opposition media.