An Iranian Couple Has Reportedly – Each of the fashion and lifestyle influencers has nearly one million followers. The length of their reported prison sentence was disputed by Iranian state media.
According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a young couple in Iran was sentenced to more than a decade in prison after posting a video of themselves dancing in a city square on Instagram.
Astiaj Haghighi, 21, and her fiancé, Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22, are Instagram fashion and lifestyle influencers with nearly one million followers each. The couple frequently posts videos about their relationship, dancing videos, and advice for their fans.
Their arrest is said to have taken place on November 1, 2022, shortly after the couple posted a video of themselves dancing near Tehran’s Azadi Tower, also known as the Freedom Tower. In the now-deleted video, Ahmadi picks up Haghighi and spins her around while they joyfully dance.
“On November 1, security forces violently arrested this couple after they posted a video on social media showing them dancing in a city square,” HRANA reported.
The couple was arrested after they shared the video on social media, according to the BBC.
According to CBS News, Haghighi and Ahmadi were detained not for dancing but for inciting resistance efforts in their Instagram posts by “encouraging people to riot against the country and subversion.”
Mizan contested the 10-year sentence, claiming the couple received a five-year prison sentence for publishing a “call to protest.”
“It is clear that anti-revolutionary forces have falsely reported the charges by claiming that each was sentenced to ten years,” said the Islamic Republic judiciary’s Mizan news agency, according to Reuters.
“Astiazh Haghighi and Amir Mohammad Ahmadi had published a call for a rally on November 4 and called for riots on their Instagram pages,” according to Mizan’s statement, as reported by CBS News. “During the riots, they advertised calls on their page, including the November 4 call.”
The couple was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison each by a Tehran court on charges of “promotion of impurity and indecency, assembly and collusion against national security, and propaganda against the regime,” according to the Washington Post.
The couple has also been barred from using social media and is not permitted to leave the country for the next two years. While their profiles are still open to the public, there have been no posts on Haghighi’s feed since September 28, 2022. Ahmadi’s most recent post was in early September.
Iranians are increasingly protesting the government’s theocratic rule, and authorities are cracking down. The death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman arrested by Iran’s morality police for improperly wearing a hijab, sparked much public outrage last year. Amini died in their custody a few days later.
Since then, Iranian authorities have arrested public figures who have spoken out against the government’s response to Amini’s death. This includes the arrests of well-known actors Taraneh Alidoosti and Navab Ebrahimi.
In September, Haghighi spoke out in support of Amini. “Hoping tomorrow will be a better tomorrow,” she wrote on Instagram. Let us hold each other’s hands and encourage one another. We are all Iranians, and we must help one another.”
According to IranWire, Haghighi’s and Ahmadi’s families have been pressured not to speak out about the situation, and the influencers have been “deprived of their right to have a lawyer in court.”
According to the HRANA, at least 525 people have died in protests since September 2022.
