Celebrities join protests over ‘lying’ Iran regime

IRANIAN sporting stars and celebrities turned on the regime yesterday.

Describing themselves as ‘captives’, household names joined demands for political change.

Two state TV hosts quit in protest at the government denying involvement in the downing of a passenger jet. Masoud Kimiai, a leading film director, pulled out of a movie festival, saying he was ‘on the side of the public’.

Taraneh Alidoosti, the country’s most popular actress and an Oscar nominee, told her six million Instagram followers: ‘I fought this dream for a long time and didn’t want to accept it... we are not citizens. We never were. We are captives.’

Iran’s only female Olympic medallist has already defected. Kimia Alizadeh, who has moved to the Netherlands, accused politicians of ‘hypocrisy, lying, injustice and flattery’.

Demonstrators, many of them students, took to the streets in several cities including Tehran yesterday despite a weekend crackdown in which the security forces used live ammunition.

Campaigners said activists were entering ‘a new phase of defiance’ following the admission from the regime that it shot down the Ukrainian jet by mistake. Crowds chanted ‘death to the dictator’ and tore down posters of Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian general assassinated by the United States.

Tensions between Britain and Tehran continued to rise after Iran’s ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office for a dressing-down.

Hamid Baeidinejad was called in over the arrest of British ambassador Rob Macaire in Tehran on Saturday. Mr Macaire denies claims that he was taking part in protests.

‘We are captives, not citizens’