Dancing lovers.

Happy.

This scene, both tender and banal, immortalized in a video published on social networks last October, was not to the taste of the Iranian authorities.

Astiaj Haghighi and his companion Amir Ahmadi, both influencers, were sentenced on Sunday January 29 to 10 and a half years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran, Iran. 

Each sentenced to ten and a half years in prison for this dance.

#Iran #MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/8lgysCbirc

— Farid Vahid (@FaridVahiid) January 30, 2023

The couple were also banned from carrying out online activities and from leaving Iran for two years after they complete their prison terms.

Aged 21 and 22, they were found guilty of "encouraging corruption, assembly and collusion for the purpose of disrupting national security and disseminating propaganda" against the Islamic Republic. 

Ten and a half years in prison for "dancing"!



Bloggers #AstiajHaghighi and her fiancé #AmirMohammadAhmadi have been arrested in their house by ununiformed agents and sent to ward 209 which belongs to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence.

Astiaj and Amir are 21 and 22 years old... https://t.co/6Y0okSS7yG

— توانا Tavaana (@Tavaana) January 30, 2023

The video was filmed in Freedom Square, Tehran, last fall.

If it goes viral today, it was however originally posted in October 2022.

According to Iranian media, Astiaj Haghighi and Amir Ahmadi were arrested on November 1.

Faced with pressure from the authorities, the families kept silent.

Since the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested on September 16 in Tehran for a "badly worn" veil, arrests have multiplied in Iran.

In four months of demonstrations, 14,000 Iranians have been arrested, according to the UN. 

The Norwegian NGO Iran Human Rights estimates that at least 481 people have been killed and at least 109 are at risk of execution in connection with the popular protest movement.

Four have already been hanged. 

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