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Iran TV Airs Interview with Jailed Instagrammer

An image grab from state TV on October 24, 2019 purportedly shows Iranian Intagrammer Sahar Tabar giving an interview at an undisclosed location. AFP
An image grab from state TV on October 24, 2019 purportedly shows Iranian Intagrammer Sahar Tabar giving an interview at an undisclosed location. AFP
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Iran TV Airs Interview with Jailed Instagrammer

An image grab from state TV on October 24, 2019 purportedly shows Iranian Intagrammer Sahar Tabar giving an interview at an undisclosed location. AFP
An image grab from state TV on October 24, 2019 purportedly shows Iranian Intagrammer Sahar Tabar giving an interview at an undisclosed location. AFP

Iranian state television has aired an interview with an Instagrammer famous for drastically altering her appearance through plastic surgery to look like a zombie and arrested for alleged "blasphemy".

The social media celebrity known as Sahar Tabar was arrested on the orders of Tehran's Islamic guidance court on October 5 after "numerous requests from the public" for her to be detained, the broadcaster said, according to Agence France Presse.

She faces charges including blasphemy, inciting violence, gaining income through inappropriate means and encouraging corruption among the young.

"I do not look like these photoshoped pictures right now," the 22-year-old told state television in the interview aired on Tuesday, her face blurred out.

"This is close to what I look like these days," Tabar said, holding a phone with a portrait of herself.

She resembles Hollywood star Angelina Jolie in the picture, but her face is gaunt, her nose sharply turned up and cheeks sunken.

Tabar denied reports she sought to look like Jolie, saying instead that she was inspired by a zombie-like character from the animated fantasy film "Corpse Bride".

Her Instagram account, which she said had 486,000 followers, no longer appears to be active.

The television channel noted that she was the only child of a divorced couple who had been living with her mother, and that she "could have been in university by now" if not because of her "strange" online persona and fame.

"I saw people were following what I did and, when the likes grew, I felt I was doing the right thing," said Tabar, admitting she had not finished high school.

Voicing regret, Tabar said her mother had tried to stop her from changing her appearance, but the fame and Instagram likes made her go on.

"My childhood dream was to be famous."

The broadcaster said Tabar admitted that "vulgarity on social media gets a lot of clicks" and if she had not followed this path, she could have been "in a better place right now".

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on Iran to stop broadcasting videos of "confessions" by suspects, saying they "violate the defendants' rights."

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World

Trump Vows Strikes on Iran’s Power Plants, Bridges if Strait of Hormuz isn't Reopened

ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)
ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)
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Trump Vows Strikes on Iran’s Power Plants, Bridges if Strait of Hormuz isn't Reopened

ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)
ABD Başkanı Donald Trump (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump has promised strikes on Iran’s power plants and bridges on Tuesday, restating his threat to attack civilian infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t reopened.

In an expletive-laden post Sunday morning, Trump promised the “crazy bastards” would be “living in Hell” if the waterway isn’t opened to marine traffic, The AP news reported.

Trump had previously threatened strikes two weeks ago, but extended the deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway twice, claiming there were positive signs in negotiations with the Iranians. But there have been few public signs of progress in a diplomatic off-ramp to the war.

World

Pope Leo Marks First Easter as Pontiff with Call for Hope Amid Global Conflicts

Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)
Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)
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Pope Leo Marks First Easter as Pontiff with Call for Hope Amid Global Conflicts

Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)
Pope Leo XIV presides over Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 5, 2026 (AP)

Pope Leo celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff with a call Sunday to exercise hope against “the violence of war that kills and destroys,” saying “we need this song of hope today” as conflicts spread around the world.

With the US-Israeli war on Iran in its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo has repeatedly called for a halt in hostilities. In his Easter homily, the pope singled out those who wage war, abuse the weak and prioritize profits.

Leo, the first US-born pope, addressed the faithful from an open-air altar in St. Peter’s Square flanked with white roses, while the steps leading down to the piazza where the faithful gathered were filled with spring perennials, symbolically resonating with the pope’s message of hope.

The pontiff implored the faithful to keep their hope in the face of death, which lurks “in injustices, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention given to the most vulnerable.

“We see it in violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of pain that rises from every corner because of the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because of the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys,” he said.

He quoted his predecessor Pope Francis in warning against falling into indifference in the face of “persistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty,” because “it is also true that in the midst of darkness, something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit.”

He will later deliver the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” message — Latin for “to the city and the world.”

Christians in the Holy Land were marking a subdued Easter Traditional ceremonies at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians as the traditional site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, were scaled back under an agreement with Israeli police. Authorities have put limits on the sizes of public gatherings due to ongoing missile attacks.

The restrictions also dampened the recent Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr holiday, as well as the current weeklong Jewish festival of Passover. On Sunday, the Jewish priestly blessing at the Western Wall — normally attended by tens of thousands — was limited to just 50 people.

The restrictions have strained relations between Israeli authorities and Christian leaders. Police last week prevented two of the church’s top religious leaders, including Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

On Tuesday, the pope had expressed hope that the war could be finished before Easter.

World

France Condemns China’s Execution of a French Citizen Held on Death Row for 15 Years

A child holds a Chinese national flag near the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in Beijing, China, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
A child holds a Chinese national flag near the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in Beijing, China, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
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France Condemns China’s Execution of a French Citizen Held on Death Row for 15 Years

A child holds a Chinese national flag near the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in Beijing, China, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)
A child holds a Chinese national flag near the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in Beijing, China, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP)

France said China has executed a French citizen convicted of drug trafficking after keeping him on death row for more than 15 years. 

Chan Thao Phoumy, 62, was executed in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, despite French authorities’ clemency appeals, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Saturday. It didn’t say when the sentence was carried out. A Chinese court sentenced him to death in 2010. 

The ministry’s statement expressed “consternation” and added: “We particularly regret that Mr. Chan’s defense did not have access to the final court hearing, which constitutes a violation of his rights.” 

“We extend our condolences to his family, whose grief we share,” it said. 

In a short statement Sunday that didn't mention Chan by name, the Chinese Embassy in Paris said that China “treats defendants of all nationalities equally, handles all cases impartially and strictly in accordance with the law.” 

France abolished the death penalty by act of parliament in 1981, and has become a vigorous campaigner against its use and for its abolition everywhere. 

China's use of executions — carried out by firing squads or lethal injections — is shrouded in secrecy but has long been extensive. Amnesty International says China is the world's lead executioner, believed to sentence and put to death thousands of people annually.