According to activists, a young Iranian couple has been sentenced to long prison terms after the publication of a dance video. Astijazh Haghighi (21) and her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi (22) were arrested in early November, the US-based organization Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported on Tuesday. A video showed the two bloggers dancing and Haghighi without a headscarf in front of the Freedom Tower in the capital, Tehran. Both are banned in public in Iran.

According to the activists, the bloggers were each sentenced to more than ten years in prison by a revolutionary court in Tehran for violating national security and spreading depravity. There was no information as to when the video was released. There was initially no official information about the case.

In Iran, young people in particular have been protesting against the authoritarian course of government and the system of rule in the Islamic Republic since mid-September. The trigger was the death of the Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody. She had been arrested by the so-called vice police for violating Islamic dress codes. Street protests have abated in recent weeks. Many women now express their displeasure through civil disobedience, for example by ignoring the compulsory headscarf.