Iranian reform campaigner is jailed
Source: Associated Press
An Iranian actress and political reformer has been jailed for 18 months on security charges in another sign of the tension between Iran's hard-line judiciary and calls for greater openness by new president Hassan Rouhani.
The case of 24-year-old Pegah Ahangarani also points to the internal - and sometimes conflicting - centres of power in Iran. News of her jailing came a day after authorities ordered the closure of the pro-reform Bahar daily for publishing a commentary considered offensive to Islam by raising questions about the successors of the Prophet Mohammed.
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Ms Ahangarani, who has appeared in about 20 films, has been detained twice since the protests in 2009 over the disputed re-election of then president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but she was released without charges. Recently, she has been banned from travelling abroad.
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Shortly after Rouhani's election victory, Ms Ahangarani asked him at a public meeting to appoint a culture minister who would be able to deliver promises on "freedom of thought and expression." She also said "incompetent" officials were the country's "biggest enemy."
Read more: http://www.independent.ie/world-news/iranian-reform-campaigner-is-jailed-29708179.html
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