Source: Deutsche Welle (DW)
Iranian actresses who defy Iran’s so-called morality police and go out in public without a headscarf have been banned from working. Many remain defiant even as locals pay an increasingly high price for protest.
In late October, Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance published a list of actresses barred from their profession for appearing in public without a headscarf. The list currently contains some 20 names, including world-famous artists like Taraneh Alidoosti. Now 39, she starred in the internationally acclaimed drama “The Salesman” in 2016. The film won director Asghar Farhadi an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017.
We risk our lives every day because we are outside without our headscarves. It is sad to see that many actresses still wear one. -Iranian student from the capital Tehran
Alidoosti used to wear a headscarf in public even when she was abroad. But that changed in November 2022 as Iran was rocked by protests following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini.
On Instagram, Alidoosti posted a picture of herself without a headscarf to her 8 million followers. The image shows her holding a slip of paper that reads “women, life, freedom” to show support for the Iranian women’s rights movement and anti-government protests.
Shortly after posting the image, Alidoosti was arrested and only released two weeks later after friends and family posted bail. On social media, she responded to her employment ban: “I will not comply with your headscarf that is still dripping with the blood of my sisters.”
I know that right now the price of resistance in Iran is very high. If you don’t want to vanish out of sight, you must reluctantly wear a headscarf…Those in power can never undo what happened last year in Iran. They are now facing a young and courageous generation of women who know what they want: Freedom and the end of oppression. -Shole Pakravan, stage actress and author.
In October, Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, screenwriter Vahideh Mohammadifar were found dead in their home with knife wounds. The movie industry and the wider public were shocked to learn of the couple’s murder.
Authorities spoke of a robbery at the hands of a former gardener. But many remained skeptical. Like many other filmmakers in Iran, Mehrjui was often at loggerheads with state authorities.
In March 2022, when his last film “La Minor” was censored, the 83-year-old posted an angry message to the Iran culture ministry on social media, stating: “Kill me, do whatever you want with me … destroy me, but I want my rights.” At the burial, many noteworthy actresses wore headscarves. The only woman to defy the obligatory hijab mandate was 16-year-old Mona Mehrjui, the murdered couple’s daughter.