Iranian authorities finally confirmed yesterday the arrest of Pegah Ahangarani, the Iranian actress and blogger who had been missing for days.
Ahangarani, the daughter of Iranian filmmakers Manijeh Hekmat and Jamsheed Ahangarani, was supposed to cover the Women’s World Cup of Soccer championship in Germany on a blog set up by Deutsche Welle’s Persian service.
Last year she covered the Berlinale film festival on a similar blog.
Deutsche Welle quotes Ahangarani’s family to report that the actress was summoned by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry before her trip to Germany early this month and disappeared after she went into hiding at a friend’s home.
Ahangarani was active at the MirHosein Mousavi campaign headquarters during the controversial election of 2009, which led to the arrest of thousands of protesters who challenged the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with allegations of vote fraud. Ahangarani was summoned and interrogated in the early days of the 2009 protests.
The authorities have not yet announced the reasons for Ahangarani’s arrest.
Last month Maryam Majd, Iranian photojournalist was also arrested by Islamic Republic authorities before travelling to Germany to cover the Women’s World Cup championship.
