Iran’s top actress who starred in Oscar-winning The Salesman faces arrest as she poses without a headscarf in latest high-profile anti-regime protest
- Taraneh Alidoosti, 38, is a prominent Iranian actress who has criticized the regime
- She posted a photo of herself without a headscarf yesterday in support of the protests
- Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody this year has sparked an outpouring of anger
A prominent Iranian actress who starred in an Oscar-winning film has risked arrest after posing without a headscarf.
Taraneh Alidoosti, 38, who starred in The Salesman – which won Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 2017 – had previously been sentenced to five months in prison for sharing a video of a vice cop attacking a woman on a street in Iran for not wearing a hijab.
The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Tehran’s notorious “morality” police in September sparked a wave of anger against Iran’s clerical establishment.
The actress posted a photo of herself yesterday without a headscarf and holding a sign reading “Woman, Life, Freedom” in Kurdish.
Iran’s top actress Taraneh Alidoosti, 38, yesterday posted a picture of herself without a headscarf and holding a sign that read “Woman, Life, Freedom” in Kurdish
Iranian actress Taranah Alidoosti, pictured in a scene from the 2017 Oscar winner The Salesman, was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for two years, for reposting a video of a woman being accosted by vice squad
This sentence is a rallying cry for protesters who criticize the Iranian regime.
Other high-profile figures, including Iranian star footballer Sardar Azmoun, lent their support to the protesters.
On his Instagram story, the Bayern Leverkusen striker said: “Shame on you for easily killing the people and living women of Iran.” Long live the Iranians!’
Global media often refer to Alidoosti as “Iran’s Natalie Portman”, and she also caused a stir in 2016 for revealing a feminist tattoo during a press conference for The Salesman.
Taraneh Alidoosti is pictured at the Palme d’Or, 69th Cannes Film Festival, France in 2016
Volant Media UK reported that Alidoosti was summoned to Branch 9 of the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office on January 21, 2020 and charged with “propaganda activities against the state”.
She was released on bail after being charged and has yet to publicly address her sentence.
In 2020, she also broke rank and criticized the Tehran government in an Instagram post, telling nearly six million followers that “we are not citizens” but “captives”.
