Women face 10 years’ jail for online videos of hijab removal

Earlier this year Alinejad met with Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, who ‘‘thanked her for her bravery and continued dedication to the cause of freedom for Iranian women’’.

In recent days, the morality police in Iran have reacted to a number of incidents in which its vigilantes have been attacked in the Tehran metro while ‘‘advising’’ women not to remove their hijab. Alinejad has denied working for any foreign governments. Asked by Fars news agency if sending video clips to an individual in the United States amounted to a criminal act, Ghazanfarabadi has said: ‘‘My understanding of the law is that three types of video recordings are criminal acts: to film our military installations; to record private life of another citizen; and the third case is to record a film with the aim of working with an enemy government.’’

The hijab is mandatory in public for all women in Iran with punishment for violations usually two months’ imprisonment and a $36 fine.

– Telegraph Group Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition activist, was transferred from a hospital back to prison yesterday, despite claims he had been poisoned in police detention amid growing protests in Moscow calling for free elections.

Anastasia Vasilyeva, Navalny’s doctor, who examined the opposition leader in hospital yesterday, said ‘‘some toxic agent’’ may have been what had caused his severe facial swelling, upper body rash, skin lesions and eye discharge.

Vasilyeva said he had been discharged from the hospital before relevant tests were run on him.

‘‘He has not fully recovered. He should have been left under medical supervision,’’ she told reporters outside the hospital. ‘‘Who is going to watch over him at the detention facility? They are not qualified to provide him with professional help.’’

Addressing reporters outside the hospital earlier in the day, Olga Mikhailova, Navalny’s lawyer, said her client had been poisoned by an unidentified chemical agent while in police detention.

The incident has aggravated concerns over another poisoning scandal in Russia, which stands accused of employing the tactic to