A judge in Iran gave a young couple ten years in prison for dancing in public in front of one of the country’s most famous sites.
According to a source, Astiyazh Haghighi, 21, and her fiance, Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22, were arrested at the beginning of November after a video of them dancing passionately in front of the Azadi Tower in Tehran went viral on social media.
In the video, the young woman was not wearing a headscarf, which is against the strict rules of the Islamic Republic. In this country, it is also against the law for women to dance in public, let alone with a man.
Now, a revolutionary court in the city has sentenced the couple to 10 years and six months in prison each. They are also not allowed to use the internet or leave the country, according to a report from the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) that was cited by a source.
Watch the video below.
Iran: A 21-y-o couple have been sentenced to 10 years in jail each for dancing at the foot of Tehran's Azadi (Freedom) Tower, sources close to them tell @nimnia11. Regime is handing out heavy sentences to anyone defying its strict rules. #آستیاژ_حقیقی #امیرمحمد_احمدی #مهسا_امینی pic.twitter.com/F0ahwzJhA1
— Khosro Kalbasi Isfahani (@KhosroKalbasi) January 30, 2023
The outlet says that the couple, who together had nearly two million followers, was found guilty of “encouraging corruption and public prostitution” and “gathering with the goal of disrupting national security.”
The post said that the HRANA had said that the couple’s families had not been able to get lawyers during the court proceedings and that their attempts to get them released on bail had been denied. The HRANA said that the couple had been sentenced to death.
Also, it has come to light that Haghighi is being held in the women’s prison Qarchak, which is outside of Tehran and is known for its terrible conditions, which activists often criticize.
The protest movement in the country praised the video of the couple as a sign of freedom because, at one point, Ahmadi lifted his girlfriend into the air while her long hair flowed freely around her shoulders.
The newspaper also said that the Azadi Tower is a very sensitive place because it opened in the early 1970s, when the previous shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was in charge. At the time, it was called the Shahyad Tower, which means “In Memory of the Shah.”
In 1979, when the Islamic Republic started, the Shah was kicked out of the country, and the new government decided to change the name of the country.
Since it started in September, the protest movement in Iran has become one of the biggest problems the government has had to deal with since it came to power after the 1979 revolution.
Mahsa Amini was killed after she was detained for allegedly breaking the rules about wearing a headscarf. Her death led to protests that have since turned into a movement against the regime.
Even though Amini’s death sparked more trouble in Iran, the government is now working to stop all kinds of conflict that have been caused by poverty, inequality, unfairness, unemployment, and a lack of law. They have been doing this by looking for all kinds of disagreements that these problems have caused.
In an attempt to stop the protests, the government has been giving harsh punishments to those who have been involved. A source says that the United Nations has said that 14,000 people have been arrested so far. There are famous people, journalists, lawyers, and regular people from all walks of life among these people.
Also, the state has been killing protesters who are angry about how Amini died.
