A young couple in Iran have been jailed for more than 10 years each after a video on social media showed them dancing at one of Tehran’s main landmarks.

Astiaj Haghighi and her fiancé Amir Mohammad Ahmadi were also banned from social activities on the internet and from leaving the country for two years.

The Instagram users, both aged in their 20s, were arrested on 1 November after the video of them dancing at the Azadi Tower went viral.

The news agency of Human Rights Activists (HRANA) said they were both jailed for 10 years and six months for “promotion of impurity and indecency, assembly and collusion against national security, and propaganda against the regime”.

In defiance of the country’s strict rules, Ms Haghighi was not wearing a headscarf in the video while women are forbidden from dancing in public.

HRANA said a source had revealed the couple had been denied a lawyer during the proceedings at a revolutionary court in Tehran.

Ms Haghighi is also said to have been relocated to Qarchak Prison, in Varamin, where the conditions come under regular criticism by campaigners.

Read more on Sky News:
World Hijab Day and the women breaking boundaries
Pakistan seeks cash bailout as financial woes deepen

The video was seen as being part of the movement demanding more freedom in Iran.

Iran has taken an even harder line than normal with any forms of dissent since widespread protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in September.

The 22-year-old was arrested for allegedly breaking the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

The country’s morality police unit, which was reportedly later closed down, detained Ms Amini for allegedly not covering her hair properly with a headscarf – before she later died in police custody.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

Activists posted pictures without wearing their headscarves as anti-government demonstrations spread across the nation and gained support abroad.

The United Nations said thousands of people were arrested in Iran during the demonstrations.

Related posts:

Eleven dead and thousands evacuated after massive thunderstorm hits China’s east coast India’s vaccine rollout-for-all stumbles before it starts amid record case numbers Iran’s foreign minister ‘sorry’ for leaked comments about senior general Afghan president blames West as increased Taliban offensive threatens key cities Raab: Countries around Afghanistan need to come together to exert pressure on Taliban Arctic Circle temperatures reached highest levels ever recorded last year, report finds Shoppers and staff snowed in at Ikea store spend night in showroom beds COVID jabs to be mandatory in Germany from February as tougher restrictions brought in for unvaccinated France could reach peak of new COVID wave in 10 days, health officials warn Macron faces far-right challenge as voting takes place in French presidential election ‘If I have to, I’ll go to jail’: The Russians who refuse to fight in Putin’s war All flights across US grounded due to computer system glitch