An Iranian actress has been released from prison three weeks after being arrested for “spreading falsehoods” and supporting anti-government protests.

News agency ISNA reported on Wednesday that Taraneh Alidoosti, 38, had been released on bail while her mother Nadere Hakimelahi, said she would be released in a post on Instagram.

The star of Oscar-winning film The Salesman joined several celebrities in expressing support for the nationwide protests which were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody and have escalated into widespread calls for the overthrow of clerical rule.

Alidoosti publicly criticised the authorities’ violent crackdown on dissent, posting at least three messages in support of the protests on Instagram before her account was disabled.

Mohsen Shekari was executed on 9 December 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, Majidreza Rahnavard was executed by public hanging. He was accused of stabbing two members of the paramilitary Basij militia, which is leading the crackdown.

Women, including Alidoosti, have played a leading role in the protests, with many publicly stripping off the compulsory Islamic headscarf, known as the hijab.

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In a public post on her Instagram, the actress held up a sign that read: “His name was Mohsen Shekari. Every international organisation who is watching this bloodshed and not taking action, is a disgrace to humanity.”

The protests, which began in mid-September, mark one of the biggest challenges to the Islamic Republic since it was established following the 1979 revolution.

One of the main slogans has been “death to the dictator”, referring to Iran’s 83-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has held the country’s highest office for more than three decades.

Protestors say they are fed up of years of both political and social repression.

According to human rights activists, at least 516 protestors have been killed and over 19,000 people have been arrested. Of these at least a dozen have been sentenced to death in closed-door hearings over charges linked to protests.

Security forces have used live ammunition, bird shot and tear gas to disperse protestors, according to the rights groups. Iranian authorities have not provided an official count of those killed or detained.

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