Court Hearing for Afshaneh Bayegan, Artist Opposed to Mandatory Hijab, Held

The court hearing regarding the charges against Afshaneh Bayegan, a cinema and television actress who opposes mandatory hijab, was held on Wednesday, July 31, without her presence at "Branch 1097 of the Criminal Court 2 of the Tehran Judicial Complex." According to the HRANA news agency, Ali Sharifzadeh, Ms. Bayegan's defense attorney, defended the renowned actress against the accusation of what the Islamic Republic calls "the presence of women in public spaces without proper hijab." Sharifzadeh stated that the evidence presented by the court in this session consisted of a collection of "published photos" of Afshaneh Bayegan on Instagram. Previously, the "Tehran Police Information Center" had reported the establishment of another legal case against Afshaneh Bayegan for what it termed "unveiling at the commemoration ceremony of Attila Pessiani." Afshaneh Bayegan attended the commemoration ceremony of Attila Pessiani, a veteran director and actor, in May 2023 without the mandatory hijab, which led to significant reactions on social media. Additionally, in July of the previous year, this cinema and television actress was sentenced to "two years of punitive imprisonment" for using a hat instead of the mandatory hijab in the Criminal Court 2 of Tehran. This sentence was suspended for five years. Branch 1088 of the Criminal Court 2 of Tehran also considered other punishments in the issued ruling, including "weekly visits to a psychological center and obtaining a health certificate," "two years of travel ban," "reading a book and summarizing its handwritten notes within two months," and "a two-year ban on direct or indirect use of social media." Afshaneh Bayegan, during the peak of nationwide protests, accompanied the protesters by sharing images without the mandatory hijab and announced her withdrawal from the "disrespectful realm of acting" in a post on her Instagram page.