Iran releases Oscar-winning film's actor held over protests

Iran released a prominent actress from an Oscar-winning film on Wednesday, nearly three weeks after she was jailed for criticising a crackdown on anti-government protests, local reports said.

Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency said Taraneh Alidoosti, the 38-year-old star of Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning “The Salesman” was released on bail. Her mother, Nadere Hakimelahi, had earlier said she would be released in a post on Instagram.

Alidoosti was among several Iranian celebrities to express support for the nationwide protests and criticise the authorities' violent clampdown on dissent. She had posted at least three messages in support of the protests on Instagram before her account was disabled.

One message had expressed solidarity with the first man to be executed on charges linked to the protests, which were triggered by the death of a woman in police custody and have escalated into widespread calls for the overthrow of Iran's ruling clerics.

The protests mark one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since it was established after the 1979 revolution. Security forces have used live ammunition, bird shot, tear gas and batons to disperse protesters, according to rights groups.

Mohsen Shekari was executed on December 9 after being charged by an Iranian court with blocking a street in Tehran and attacking a member of the country's security forces with a machete. A week later, Iran executed a second prisoner, Majidreza Rahnavard, by public hanging. He had been accused of stabbing two members of the paramilitary Basij militia, which is leading the crackdown.

Activists say at least a dozen people have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings over charges linked to the protests.

"His name was Mohsen Shekari," Alidoosti wrote on an account with some 8 million followers before her arrest. "Every international organisation who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.” At least 516 protesters have been killed and over 19,000 people have been arrested, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that has closely monitored the unrest. Iranian authorities have not provided an official count of those killed or detained.