Iranian couple reportedly sentenced to over 10 years in jail over public dancing video

An Iranian court has sentenced a young couple to 10 years and six months in prison after a video of them dancing in public was widely shared online, according to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a press group set up by the Human Rights Activists in Iran. The watchdog NGO reported that Astiyazh Haghighi, who was not wearing a headscarf in the video posted on January 29, 2023, and her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi were charged with threatening national security and indecency. The Islamic Republic judiciary’s Mizan news agency refuted HRANA’s report, saying the length of the sentences was actually five years and that the video bloggers had been charged with stirring protests on their popular social media platforms.