Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti who won the competition title at this year’s Cannes Film Festival Leila’s brothersposted a photo of herself without a headscarf on social media in support of ongoing protests in Iran demanding more freedom for women.
Her defiant removal of her headscarf, required by Iran’s Sharia law for women in public places, comes amid widespread anti-government protests sparked by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini in police custody. their third month in Iran.
Alidoosti poses with her long hair down and holding a sign with the protest slogan “Woman. Life. Freedom.” in Kurdish language, although she herself has no Kurdish roots.
Her Instagram post was accompanied by a poem that read: “Her recent absence, like the migration of songbirds, marks the end of this rebellion.”
Alidoosti is one of the most famous actresses of Iran. Her act of rebellion is considered particularly courageous because she still lives in Iran.
A number of high-profile artists have already been jailed for dissent, both for and against the protests.
Prominent figures from Iran’s arts and entertainment industry currently in custody include filmmakers Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, singer Shervin Hajipour and Tehran-based Kurdish rapper Saman Yasin, who was sentenced after his assassination , the death penalty is threatened by “enmity”. against God” in a court hearing at the end of October.
In a message earlier this week, Alidoosti indicated that she is in Iran and has no intention of leaving her homeland, but instead supports the fight for women’s freedom and equality.
“I have no passport or residence anywhere except Iran. I will stay and look you straight in the eye like all these normal people do when I scream for my rights,” she wrote.
“I inherited this courage from the women of my country who lived with resistance every day for years… I will stay, I will not stop, I will stand with the families of the prisoners and be killed and their rightful claim. I will fight for my home, I will pay what it takes to stand up for my rights and above all I believe in what we are building together today.”
At the start of the protests, a governor of the Tehran region warned that action would be taken against celebrities who publicly support anti-government protests, while Iran’s parliament earlier this week voted in favor of the death penalty for people arrested while participating in the protests.
At least 1,000 people have been arrested by Iranian authorities since the protests began, while more than 200 people, including teenagers, have been killed by the country’s security forces as they tried to quell the protests.
Writer: Melanie Goodfellow
Source: Deadline
