An Iranian court has handed 10-year jail sentences each to a young couple after they danced in front of one of the country's prominent landmarks. As reported by the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-64470506">BBC</a>, Astiyazh Haghighi, 21, and her fiance Amir Mohammad Ahmadi, 22, were arrested in early November after a video of them lovingly dancing in front of the Azadi Tower in Tehran went viral on social media. In the footage, the girl wasn't sporting a headscarf - which is deemed as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic's strict rules - and women are also prohibited from dancing in public in the country - let alone with a man. Now, a revolutionary court in the city has sentenced the couple to a harsh 10 years and six months in prison each, as well as banning them from using the internet and leaving the country, US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said, per <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/31/iranian-couple-filmed-dancing-in-tehran-are-jailed-for-10-years">The Guardian</a>. Watch the video below: [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/KhosroKalbasi/status/1620012954535223296]] The couple, who reportedly had a combined following of nearly two million, was convicted of "encouraging corruption and public prostitution" as well as "gathering with the intention of disrupting national security," the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/31/iranian-couple-filmed-dancing-in-tehran-are-jailed-for-10-years">outlet</a> shared. The publication noted that the HRANA stated that the couple's families had been unable to acquire lawyers during the court proceedings, and their attempts to ensure their release on bail had been denied. It has also been revealed that Haghighi is currently placed in the Qarchak prison for women outside of Tehran, which has dire conditions that activists regularly denounce. The pair's video had been praised as a symbol of liberation by the country's protest movement, as at one point in the clip Ahmadi lifted his girlfriend in the air as her long hair flowed freely. In addition to this, the publication reported that the Azadi Tower is a location of immense sensitivity as it was opened in the early 1970s under the rule of the last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi - when it was known as the Shahyad (In Memory of the Shah) Tower. The name was later changed after the shah was expelled in 1979 under the inception of the Islamic republic. <img class="wp-image-1263192474 size-full" src="https://img.vt.co/2023/02/2K8C45E-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1703" />[[imagecaption|| People demanding freedom in Iran and protesting following the death of Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. Credit: Marcos del Mazo / Alamy]] Iran's protest movement started in September and has become one of the most profound problems to the country's government since it came to power in the 1979 revolution. The death of <a href="https://vt.co/news/world/how-mahsa-amini-became-a-symbol-of-resistance-in-iran" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mahsa Amini</a>, who had been apprehended for allegedly breaking the headscarf rules, sparked demonstrations that have turned into a movement against the regime. While Amini's death became a catalyst for wider turmoil in Iran, authorities have now been chasing down all forms of contention that have also been caused by dissatisfaction with poverty, inequality, inequity, unemployment, and lawlessness. The regime has been handing out tough sentences to people involved in the unrest in order to suppress the rallies. So far, 14,000 people - ranging from celebrities, journalists, lawyers, and ordinary people - have been arrested, according to the United Nations, per <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/03/middleeast/iran-protests-arrests-united-nations-intl/index.html">CNN</a>. Also, the state has been executing protesters over the circumstances of Amini's death. <h6>Featured image credit: Piero Cruciatti / Alamy</h6>

Couple jailed for 10 years after posting video of them dancing

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