Iran stepped up its crackdown on celebrities and journalists on Thursday amid a wave of protests sparked by the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, days after she was arrested by morality police, AFP reported.

The crackdown on the protest movement has led to dozens of deaths since mid-September, drawing widespread condemnation abroad.

Iranian filmmakers, athletes, musicians and actors have expressed solidarity with the protesters, including the national soccer team, whose players wore black tracksuits during the national anthems before a match in Vienna against Senegal.

“We will take action against celebrities who have breathed in the ‘silence’ of the unrest,” Tehran provincial governor Mohsen Mansouri was quoted as saying on Thursday by the Isna news agency, referring to the protests.

The protest movement, the largest of 2019, was sparked by the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, three days after she was arrested by morality police.

She was accused of violating Iran’s strict dress code, which requires women to wear the Islamic veil.

Red line. The journalists were arrested

The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, also pointed the finger at celebrities: “Those who became famous for supporting the system joined the enemy in difficult times instead of standing with the people. All of them should know that they have to pay for the material and spiritual damage caused to the people and the country,” he said.

For his part, Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi warned that despite the “pain” caused by Amini’s death, “no one is allowed to break the law and cause chaos.

A journalist covering Amini’s funeral was arrested on Thursday, according to her lawyer. This arrest follows the arrest of Nilufar Hamedi, a journalist from the daily Shargh, who went to the hospital where the young Kurdish woman was in a coma, and who contributed to the media coverage of the case.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) announced on Thursday that three more journalists, Farshid Ghorbanpour, Ariya Jaffari and Mobin Baluch, had been arrested, bringing the total number of arrests to 28.

According to Iran’s Fars news agency, around 60 people have been killed since the protests began on September 16, while the Oslo-based NGO Iran Human Rights puts the death toll at at least 76.

Blaming foreign forces for the protests, Iran launched cross-border strikes in Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday that killed 13 people, accusing armed opposition groups based in the region of fueling the unrest. According to American diplomats, one US citizen was killed during the strikes.

Iran summoned France’s chargé d’affaires on Thursday, condemning France’s “interference” in the country’s internal affairs after Paris condemned the “brutal suppression” of protests.

Demonstrations of solidarity with Iranian women have taken place around the world, with rallies planned for Saturday in 70 cities.