Taraneh Alidoosti: Film star given suspended prison sentence in Iran for ‘anti-government activism’

Star’s lawyer called the sentence an ‘act of intimidation’

Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran’s most popular film stars, will reportedly receive a five-month prison sentence on charges of “anti-government activism”.

According to a BBC Persia report, Alidoosti’s lawyer Kaveh Rad tweeted that her sentence has been suspended for two years and would be officially announced on 1 July. He called the sentence an act of intimidation by Iranian authorities.

The charges are apparently related to negative tweets about law enforcement, Variety says.

The star of Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman issued a strong criticism of Iranian authorities in January this year, when she told her 5.8 million followers: “We are not citizens, we are captives, millions of captives.” The post was later deleted.

She also reportedly shared a video on Twitter showing a member of Iran’s plainclothes “morality police” insulting and attacking a woman on the street for not wearing the hijab headscarf.

On 21 January, Alidoosti, who has been described as “Iran’s Natalie Portman”, was initially summoned to Iran’s Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office on charges of “propaganda activities against the state” before being released on bail. The case was then referred to the criminal court.

Alidoosti has been vocal about human rights throughout her acting career. She caused outrage in Tehran in 2006 when a tattoo of the “woman power” symbol of a raised fist was spotted emerging from her sleeve, during a Cannes press conference for The Salesman.

She boycotted the 2017 Academy Awards ceremony, where The Salesman received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, in protest of US president Donald Trump‘s travel ban, which she branded “racist” on Twitter.

Alidoosti will not serve jail time unless she is convicted of another crime in the two-year period.