She is arguably the most famous personality to have been arrested for her support of protests sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini.
Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti was released on bail on Wednesday after three weeks in detention, according to her lawyer Zahra Minooee.
Held in Evin prison in Tehran since December 17, Taraneh Alidoosti, 38, had posted several messages on social networks showing her support for the protest movement.
Some were accompanied by photos in which she did not wear a veil and condemned the execution of demonstrators.
Photos posted on Twitter show her bareheaded, without a veil, carrying a bouquet of flowers and talking on the phone, after her release from prison.
Taraneh Alidoosti.
WANA via REUTERS/Sharghdaily: Gisoo Faghfoori.
Friends and colleagues had been waiting for him on his release from prison.
Among them, figures of Iranian cinema including directors Mani Haghighi and Saeed Roustayi.
“Without the veil in the photos after his release”
Other photos show her in a car sticking her tongue out and making the V for victory with her fingers.
Iranian-born British actress Nazanin Boniadi hailed the fact that her colleague appeared "bravely without the compulsory veil in the photos after her release".
Actress #TaranehAlidoosti, who was imprisoned after posting a photo of herself without compulsory hijab on her social media, in solidarity with the nationwide protests, has been released on bail.
And is courageously also without mandatory hijab in the photos after her release.
https://t.co/kfBY7lZP4o
— Nazanin Boniadi (@NazaninBoniadi) January 4, 2023
Taraneh Alidoosti is particularly known for having starred in award-winning films by director Asghar Farhadi, including "The Client", Oscar for best foreign language film in 2017. She also starred in Saeed Roustayi's film "Leila and her brothers", presented this year at the Cannes Film Festival.
He welcomed her release in a tweet accompanied by a photo of her without a veil.
“Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti has been released after three weeks in detention: what joy and relief!
Let's stay involved!
“, he wrote.
Read alsoRelease of "Leila and her brothers": censorship, taboo subjects, arrests ... in Iran, the hell of filming
Nearly 500 personalities and other film professionals, such as French actress Marion Cotillard or Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, called in an open letter in December for his immediate release.
Emma Thompson, Golshifteh Farahani, Kristen Stewart, Jeremy Irons and Mark Ruffalo among others felt that the timing of his arrest, shortly before Christmas, was to "keep his international colleagues distracted".
“But we are not distracted.
We are outraged,” they said in the letter.
Read alsoIran: calls to release actress Taraneh Alidoosti are increasing
Taraneh was arrested for Instagram condemning the execution of 23-year-old Mohsen Shekari, the first protester sentenced to death since nationwide protests began following the brutal police killing of Iranian Kurdish Mahsa Amini in September,” they added.
“Like all citizens of Iran, she has the right to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.
We stand in solidarity and demand his immediate release,” they added.
“Woman, life, freedom”
Since her arrest, the actress' Instagram account, followed by more than 8 million people, has remained inaccessible.
“Your silence means that you support the oppression and the oppressor,” she said in her last post on social media, the day Mohsen Shekari, 23, became the first protester executed by Iranian authorities.
She had also announced that she did not wish to leave Iran, saying she was ready to "pay any price for (her) rights".
On November 9, she posted a photo of herself without a veil, with a sign bearing the message “Woman, life, freedom”, the main slogan of the demonstrations.
According to the judicial news agency Mizan Online, the actress had been arrested "by order of the judicial authority" because she "did not provide evidence regarding some of her assertions" regarding the protests.