Overview
- Madonna posted an Instagram message on January 16 expressing solidarity with Iranians protesting the Tehran government and calling the revolution “necessary.”
- She urged people to “hold on” and contrasted freedoms she takes for granted—travel, dress, speech, singing, dancing, spiritual choice—with restrictions faced in Iran, especially by women.
- Her post referenced a recent holiday in Morocco, using a desert horseback video to frame her reflections on liberty.
- Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi told The Guardian that the government cannot stand in the current situation and warned it may push the country toward collapse.
- Panahi was reported to have been sentenced in absentia to one year in prison for “propaganda activities,” following previous detentions linked to support for fellow filmmakers and past protests.