PARIS
\nIran has arrested two prominent actors who expressed solidarity with the protest movement and removed their headscarves in public in an apparent act of defiance against the regime, state media reported Sunday.
\nHengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi were both detained after being summoned by prosecutors in a probe into their \u201cprovocative\u201d social media posts and media activity, the state-run IRNA news agency said.
\nIran\u2019s clerical leadership has been shaken by more than two months of women-led 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.
\nAuthorities in the Islamic republic describe the protests as \u201criots\u201d and accuse the country\u2019s Western foes of fomenting them.
\nGhaziani, a vocal critic of the crackdown on protesters, was arrested for inciting and supporting the \u201criots\u201d and for communicating with opposition media, IRNA said.
\nThe 52-year-old film star had already indicated she had been summoned by the judiciary, and then published a video on Instagram of herself removing the obligatory hijab.
\n\u201cMaybe this will be my last post,\u201d she wrote late Saturday.
\n\u201cFrom this moment on, whatever happens to me, know that as always, I am with the Iranian people until my last breath.\u201d
\nThe video, which appears to have been filmed in a shopping street, shows Ghaziani bareheaded facing the camera without speaking and then turning around and binding her hair into a ponytail.
\nIn a post last week, she accused the \u201cchild-killer\u201d Iranian government of \u201cmurdering\u201d more than 50 children.
\n\u2018Voice of oppressed people\u2019
\nRiahi was later arrested in the same probe, IRNA said.
\nThe actor, 60, who has appeared in a string of award-winning movies and is also known for her charitable work, had in September given an interview to London-based Iran International TV, an outlet despised by the regime, without wearing a hijab. She had expressed solidarity with the protests that have swept Iran since the death of Mahsa Amini, as well as opposition to the obligatory hijab.
\nAccording to the judiciary\u2019s Mizan Online news website, Ghaziani was among eight people who were summoned by prosecutors over \u201cprovocative\u201d material posted on social media.
\nThey also included Yahya Golmohammadi, coach of Tehran football team Persepolis FC, who had strongly criticised players on Iran\u2019s national squad for not \u201cbringing the voice of oppressed people to the ears of the authorities\u201d. The comment came after the national football team last week met President Ebrahim Raisi ahead of their appearance at the World Cup, which began Sunday in Qatar.
\nMizan said other prominent actors including Mitra Hajjar and Baran Kosari had also been summoned.
\nEarlier this month Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran\u2019s best-known actors remaining in the country, posted an image of herself on social media without the mandatory headscarf.
\nAlidoosti vowed to stay in her homeland at \u201cany price\u201d, saying she planned to stop working and instead support the families of those killed or arrested in the protest crackdown.
\nIranian cinema figures were under pressure even before the start of the protest movement sparked by Amini\u2019s death.
\nPrize-winning directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi remain in detention after they were arrested earlier this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Iran has arrested two prominent actors who expressed solidarity with the protest movement and removed their headscarves in public in an apparent act of defiance against the regime, state media reported Sunday. Hengameh Ghaziani and Katayoun Riahi were both detained after being summoned by prosecutors in a probe into their \u201cprovocative\u201d social media posts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-296600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n