ALBAWABA - Authorities in Tehran arrested an Iranian artist on charges of "insulting Bashar Assad," its former ally in Syria.
Bashar Assad's decades-long regime was toppled on Dec. 8 after the Syrian Hayet Tahrir al-Sham announced an operation against the old regime.
Iran International reported citing Iranian lawyer Amir Raisian who confirmed that authorities in the country arrested artist Khosrow Azarbeg on Monday night and told his family that he was accused of "insulting the former Syrian president, Bashar Assad."
He added that the artist had played the tambourine in the Tehran metro earlier in protest against the Iranian regime's support for Bashar al-Assad, according to opposition media outlets broadcasting from exile.
Sources further noted that the Iranian artist was taken to an unknown destination. The story of Khosrow Azarbeg has caused a wave of anger on social media where people called on the authorities to release him since the regime collapsed in Damascus last December.
