Iran dancing couple given 10-year jail sentence in city of Tehran
Courtesy:UPI
After posting a video of themselves dancing in the street, an Iranian couple in their 20s received a total of ten years in prison.
According to reports, they were found guilty of promoting prostitution, corruption, and propaganda.
They were seen dancing near the Azadi (Freedom) Tower in Tehran in the video. After the death of a woman who was detained by morality police, authorities are issuing severe sentences to those who are believed to have been involved in protests.
The couple did not mention the ongoing protests in Iran in connection with their dance.
BBC Monitoring has been informed by a source that the couple was arrested after posting the video to their Instagram accounts, both of which have nearly two million followers.
After Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody in September of last year, antigovernment protests swept the nation, which the Iranian regime referred to as "riots." She was taken into custody in Tehran for allegedly breaking the rule that says women must wear a headscarf or hijab to cover their hair.
According to reports, 21-year-old Astiazh Haqiqi and her 22-year-old fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi have been found guilty of "promoting corruption and prostitution, colluding against national security, and propaganda against the establishment."
Before the arrest, the family home of Ms. Haqiqi, who lists her occupation as fashion designer, was searched.
The length of the sentence for each of their separate convictions is unknown. They have each been given sentences totaling ten and a half years for the charges. They will have to serve the longest of those sentences if their verdicts are upheld. They were also given a two-year ban on using social media and leaving the country, according to reports.
A very straightforward guide to the protests in Iran: "Dancing is a symbol of freedom in Iran."
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Settlements
on border hinder the process of Israeli-Palestinian peace
Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank has been criticized by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as a barrier to peace.
The remarks were made after talks on Tuesday with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
It demonstrates that the United States opposes Israel's new government's key platform, which aims to expand settlements.
Following a string of deadly attacks and a military raid, Mr. Blinken's visit comes as tensions continue to rise
In the deadliest incident of its kind in years, Israeli forces carried out a raid on a cell that Israel claimed was planning an imminent attack, killing ten Palestinians, including militants and at least one civilian, in the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday.
The next day six Israelis and a Ukrainian were killed when a Palestinian started shooting close to a temple in East Jerusalem, then hours after the fact an Israeli dad and child were injured when a 13-year-old Palestinian shot at a gathering likewise in East Jerusalem.
On Sunday and Monday, two Palestinians were shot dead in separate incidents in the West Bank. One of the victims, according to Israeli officials, was approaching a Jewish settlement with a gun, while the other was killed when Israeli troops opened fire on a vehicle that, according to the military, had fled after hitting a soldier.
A "shrinking horizon of hope for the Palestinians," according to Mr Blinken, needed to change
He stated that Washington opposed actions by either side that would make this more difficult and reiterated Washington's support for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel
"We've been clear that this includes things like settlement expansion, the legalization of outposts, demolitions and evictions, tampering with the historic status of holy sites, and obviously inciting and acquiescing to violence," the group said.
"What is happening today, due to its practices that undermine the two-state solution and violate the signed agreements," Mr. Abbas claimed.
Israel and the Palestinians have long accused each other of breaking agreements from the early 1990s that were meant to lead
to a peace agreement
The Israeli government, which just came into office, strongly opposes the idea of a Palestinian state and supports the expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian-claimed land for a hopedfor state.
Mr Netanyahu, who held chats with Mr Blinken on Monday, has additionally promised to legitimize many stations - settlements worked without true authorisation - before the finish of February.
Since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the war in the Middle East in 1967, Israel has established approximately 600,000 Jews in 140 settlements.
Even though Israel disputes this, the vast majority of the international community considers the settlements to be against international law.
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