An Iranian couple has reportedly been sentenced to 10 years in prison after posting a dance video

BBC confirmed that the arrest of the couple took place after they posted the video on social networks.

CBS News reported that Iran’s state media outlet Mizan claimed Haghighi and Ahmadi were not detained for dancing, but for inciting resistance in their Instagram posts “encouraging people to rebel against the country and subversion.”

Mizan contested the 10-year sentence and argued that the couple had been sentenced to five years in prison for publishing “calls for protests”.

“It is clear that the anti-revolutionary forces falsely reported the charges, claiming that each of them was sentenced to 10 years in prison,” the Islamic Republic’s Mizan news agency said. Reuters reported.

“Astiazh Haghighi and Amir Mohammad Ahmadi posted a call for a rally on November 4 and called for riots on their Instagram pages,” Mizan’s statement reads, CBS News reports. “During the riots they used their site to advertise calls, including a call for November 4.”

The pair were sentenced individually by a court in Tehran to 10 years and 6 months in prison each, for a total of 21 years together, on charges of “promoting impurity and indecency, gathering and colluding against national security and propaganda against the regime,” Washington Post he said Wednesday. The couple is also banned from social media and banned from leaving the country for two years. Although their profiles remain public, there have been no posts on Haghighi’s feed since September 28, 2022. Ahmadi’s last post was in early September.

Iranians are protesting in increasing numbers against the theocratic rule of the government, and the authorities have been cracking down. Much of the public dissent was sparked last year by a death Mahsa AminiA 22-year-old woman arrested by Iran’s morality police for improperly wearing a hijab. Amini died a few days later in their custody.

Iranian officials have since arrested public figures who opposed the government’s response to Amini’s death. This includes the arrests of prominent actors Taraneh Alidoosti and a celebrity chef Nawab Ebrahimi.

Haghighi gave his support to Amini in September. In a post on Instagram, she wrote: “We hope tomorrow will be better tomorrow. Let’s hold hands and support each other. We are all Iranians and we have to help each other.”