This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Iranian actress Hengameh Ghaziani, who was detained last week after expressing support for anti-government protesters, has been released from custody, state news agency ISNA reported on November 27.
Ghaziani, a film and theater actress, was arrested by security forces on November 20 along with fellow actress Katayoun Riahi after they removed their head scarves in public in an apparent act of defiance against the regime.
ISNA did not give details of Ghaziani’s release or mention Riahi’s status in its report.
Reports by human rights organizations indicate that more than 15,000 people have been detained during protests that have swept the country since 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in September after being detained for allegedly improperly wearing a head scarf.
Authorities have said Amini died from a sudden heart attack while denying claims by activists that she was beaten.
Riahi was one of the first Iranian celebrities to remove her hijab in protest of Amini’s death, while Ghaziani published pictures of herself standing on a Tehran street without a hijab and tying her hair in a ponytail. Tying one’s hair in a ponytail in public has become an act of defiance in Iran in recent weeks.
Ghaziani and Riahi were detained after being summoned by prosecutors in a probe into their “provocative” social media posts and media activity, the state-run IRNA news agency said at the time.
The moves came amid a brutal crackdown by the government after weeks of unrest — one of the deepest challenges to the Islamic regime since the revolution in 1979 — that erupted following the September 16 death of Amini.
Prior to her arrest, Ghaziani posted along with her photos a statement saying that “maybe this is my last post. From this moment on, whatever happens to me, know that I am with the People of Iran until the last breath.”
Earlier in an Instagram posting, Ghaziani called Iran a “child-killing state.”
Many members of the Iranian cinematic and artistic community have been summoned and interrogated by security agencies for supporting protesters.
Prior to the recent wave of nationwide protests, three prominent Iranian cinematographers — Mostafa al-Ahmad, Mohammad Rasulof, and Jafar Panahi — were arrested after they joined a group of more than 300 Iranian filmmakers in calling on the security forces to “lay down arms” in the face of public outrage over “corruption, theft, inefficiency, and repression” following a building collapse in May in the city of Abadan, which killed 41 people.
The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran on October 3 announced a sentence of six years against Ahmad.
Panahi and Rasoulov reportedly have been in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for several months.
