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'Zombie' Angelina Jolie lookalike Sahar Tabar reveals her REAL face on Iranian TV after being freed

Many believed she underwent a series of cosmetic surgeries to achieve her spooky appearance but this was before she revealed her real face on the Iranian TV channel Rokna

TEHRAN, IRAN: Sahar Tabar, known as the "zombie" Angelina Jolie-lookalike on the Internet, has finally revealed her real face on Iranian TV following her release from prison. Contrary to popular belief, the social media sensation looks nothing like her "zombie" alter ego.

Many believed she underwent a series of cosmetic surgeries to achieve her spooky appearance but this was before she revealed herself on the Iranian TV channel Rokna. The 21-year-old, whose real name is Fatehmeh Khishvand, is from Tehran and she was jailed for obscenity and "insulting" the hijab, per the Iran Human Rights News Agency. She was arrested in October 2019 for "corruption" and "blasphemy" and sentenced to ten years in prison. However, she was recently released after serving only 14 months in custody.

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'What you saw on Instagram was the computer effects I used to create the image,' she was quoted as saying in the interview with Rokna, per Lad Bible. 

Activist Maish Alinejad revealed Tabar's jail sentence in a Twitter post back in 2020. "Sahar Tabar is only 19. Her joke landed her in jail. Her mother cries every day to get her innocent daughter freed. Dear Angelina Jolie! we need your voice here. Help us," she wrote.

Some reports suggested the social media figure had contracted Covid-19 in 2020. The US-based Center For Human Rights in Iran later said a local judge had refused to grant her bail despite the coronavirus rapidly spreading in the country's prisons at the time. Alinejad called on Hollywood megastar Jolie to petition for Tabar's release in a video. "Islamic Republic has a history of tormenting women. We need to be united against this gender apartheid," she wrote alongside the clip.

Iran has been rocked by widespread protests this year following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was reportedly killed in custody after being accused of breaching Iran's strict dress code for women. Her death has sparked the biggest demonstrations in the Islamic Republic in years.

Tabar shot to fame in 2017 after claiming to have had 50 surgeries to make herself look like the Oscar-winning actress.

In a pre-trial television interview, she confirmed that her look was mostly achieved by makeup and editing. She told the interviewer she didn't look like her Instagram pictures and that they were heavily photoshopped.

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The online sensation also admitted it had been her childhood dream to become famous and that she defied her mother's objections so that she could build her Instagram following. She explained that she's had some basic cosmetic surgery such as a nose job, lip fillers, and liposuction, but most of her strange appearance is due to makeup tricks and 'extreme' photo editing. In real life, as her TV appearance proved, she looks quite normal.

It's worth noting that cosmetic surgery is extremely popular in Iran, with thousands of procedures recorded each year. Meanwhile, Instagram is the only major social media service accessible in the Islamic Republic. Other platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and the Telegram messenger service are officially banned.