IRAN - Fatemeh Instagram Celebrity in Iran Infected With Coronavirus in Prison

Fatemeh Khishvand, Iranian Instagram Celebrity

Fatemeh Khishvand, popularly known as Sahar Tabar, the Iranian social media celebrity has tested positive for corona virus in prison, stated by her lawyer.

Khishvand become a social media sensation after posting on Instagram her heavily altered face through series of plastic surgeries she has undergoes in other to look like Angelina Jolie, the Hollywood actress.

Fatemeh Khishvand before and after surgery

Sahar Tabar, who also edited her photos to resemble a zombie, was arrested by Iranian authorities last year October 2019, on the orders of Tehran's guidance court, which deals with "cultural crimes, social and moral corruption".

Among the charges she faced were blasphemy, inciting violence, gaining income through inappropriate means and encouraging the youths to corruption.

The 18-years old lawyer, Payam Derafshan, told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) last week that Tabar is currently on a ventilator at Sina Hospital in Tehran after getting infected with the dreaded Covid-19 at the Shahr-e Rey prison.

She is now held in a quarantine section of the prison, Derafshan said, according to Tabar's mother.

"We find it unacceptable that this young woman has now caught the corona virus in these circumstances while her detention order has been extended during all this time in jail," said Derafshan.

Pic: Showing different stages of surgery

Although the director of the prison, Mehdi Mohammadi, denied Tabar had been diagnosed with COVID-19, but Derafshan said it is a "habit for authorities to deny everything".

"It makes no sense to deny this," he said. "The prison director should acknowledge the infection and admit she has been hospitalized".

The lawyer went on to say although he appealed for the judge in Tabar's case, Mohammed Moghiseh, to release her from prison, he is "unreachable" and could not be found at the court.

Last month, Iran temporarily released some 85,000 inmates, including political prisoners, in an attempt to reduce pressure on its prison facility as the country struggles to contain the spread of corona virus.

The death toll from Iran's Covid-19 outbreak has risen past 5,000, and there are more than 82,000 cases of infection in the country which has stood out to be Middle East's worst affected country.