TEHRAN: Iran has charged two prominent actresses for publishing pictures of themselves flouting the country’s dress code for women, just weeks after announcing a crackdown on breaches, local media reported.

Police in Tehran have referred the case against Katayoun Riahi and Pantea Bahram to Iran’s judiciary, accusing them of “the crime of removing the hijab in public and posting photos on the internet”, the Tasnim news agency said late on Monday. If prosecuted, the pair could face fines or prison terms.

Earlier this month police said they would begin using “smart” technology in public places to crack down on women defying Iran’s compulsory dress code.

Last week, photos of Bahram, 53, went viral after she posed without a headscarf at a film screening, while Riahi, 61, posted several photos taken in public places around Tehran in which she did not wear a headscarf.

The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in public was imposed shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979.

The number of women in Iran defying the dress code has increased since a wave of protests following the Sept 16 death in custody of Kurdish-Iranian Mahsa Amini, 22, for allegedly breaching it.

On April 16, authorities said they had closed 150 commercial establishments whose employees were not complying with the dress code. Bahram and Riahi have won several awards at Iran’s leading cinema event, the Fajr International Film Festival.

In November, Riahi was released on bail after more than a week’s detention for posting photos to Instagram in solidarity with the Amini protests, showing herself without a headscarf.

She was the first Iranian actress to post such images on social media in support of the protest movement.

Journalist re-arrested

On Tuesday, a dissident Iranian journalist has been arrested again, barely three months after his release from prison following two years of incarceration, his family said. Keyvan Samimi, known for his activism, was arrested on Thursday, a family member said.

“We still have no further information on the (security) service responsible for his arrest or his whereabouts,” they added.

The 74-year-old was released from Semnan prison in January after being sentenced to three years in jail for “plotting against national security” in December 2020.

Since his release, he is known to have met activists and other political figures, including reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.

In January, Samimi’s family said he also faced a separate case in which he was accused of “association against the security of the country”. They did not elaborate.

In February 2022, Samimi was provisionally released from prison and returned home due to health issues but was re-incarcerated in May after being suspected of engaging in political activities.

A former editor of the now-banned intellectual magazine Iran-e Farda (Iran Tomorrow), Samimi has been imprisoned several times, before and after the revolution.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2023