Protesting Iranian actors and director released on bail

TEHRAN

Iran released on bail on Dec. 11 two actresses and a male theater director that were detained in November for making a video supporting the country’s protest movement, local media reported.

“Theater director Hamid Pourazari and actresses Soheila Golestani and Faezeh Aeen, were released on Sunday evening,” the ISNA news agency said.

Iran has seen nearly three months of protests and unrest following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman of Kurdish origin, after her arrest for an alleged breach of Iran’s dress code for women.

On Nov. 30 rights groups announced the arrest of Pourazari and Golestani following the release of a video in which ten women and six men from Iran’s film and theatre industries stood silently in turn in front of the camera. None of the women in the viral video wore head coverings, which “broke the law”, according to ISNA.

During the protests several Iranian actors have made the taboo-breaking gesture of removing their headscarves, which are mandatory for women in the Islamic republic.

Authorities have reported thousands of arrests in connection with the protests, including film, political and sporting personalities. Some prominent detainees have been released. Iranian cinema figures were under pressure even before the start of the protest movement sparked by Amini’s death.

Prize-winning directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi remain in detention after their arrests earlier this year.