Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was not engaged in subversive work; she was an apolitical project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the Reuters news agency.
For me, the struggle for women's human rights began the moment I was born in Tehran at the height of the Iranian Revolution, a time when the status of women was quickly deteriorating.
A celebrated and hugely popular actress in her native Iran, Ahangarani first landed on the radar of the Iranian authorities for her open support of opposition figure Mir-Hossein Mousavi, which led to her arrest in July 2009 in the aftermath of a disputed presidential election in Iran.
History's lesson, of course, is that attempts to suppress free expression have merely confirmed the caricaturists' original critique of heavy-handed and objectionable actions of overreaching governments.
Artists often become vocal advocates of freedom of expression because we depend on it so heavily in our work. But it is an inalienable right that belongs to everyone on an equal basis.
Clothes are a big part of a free society, I think, and what you wear is so indicative of the political climate you're living in.
First of all, I'm Middle Eastern; I'm Iranian, so to be playing a leading role in a big Hollywood movie, I think, is possibly one of the first times.
Dance connects us to the musicality of life and to one another. No one should be denied such basic pleasures.
I was shocked when I heard that Farghadani had been sentenced to 12 years and nine months in prison on spurious charges, as Amnesty International notes, of 'spreading propaganda against the system,' 'insulting members of the parliament through paintings' and 'insulting the Supreme Leader' with her cartoon.
Although each human rights victory energizes us to continue our work, there remains a deep sorrow for those prisoners still wrongfully languishing in jail.
