Nearly 500 personalities and film workers, including actresses Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard and directors Ken Loach and Pedro Almodóvar, called on Wednesday in an open letter for the immediate release of Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, arrested for supporting the protest in Iran .
Emma Thompson, Golshifteh Farahani, Kristen Stewart, Jeremy Irons and Mark Ruffalo, among others, believe the timing of her arrest, shortly before Christmas, was deliberate “to ensure that her international colleagues were distracted.” “But we are not distracted. We are outraged,” they say in the letter.
“Taraneh was arrested for condemning on Instagram the execution of Mohsen Shekari, the first protester sentenced to death since nationwide protests began following the brutal police killing of Iranian Kurdish Mahsa Amini in September,” they add.
The UN is “deeply concerned”
“Like all citizens of Iran, she has the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association and to be free from arbitrary arrest and detention. We stand in solidarity and demand her immediate release,” they said.
Taraneh Alidoosti is the most famous personality arrested in connection with the protest movement that has been agitating Iran for three months. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights told AFP “deeply concerned” by this arrest.
Taraneh Alidoosti, 38, is known abroad for starring in award-winning films by director Asghar Farhadi, including The clientOscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017. He also starred in Saeed Roustayi’s film Leyla and her brotherspresented this year at the Cannes Film Festival.
Source: BFM TV
