In protest against the headscarf requirement, some Iranian women are stopping covering their heads. The actress Alidoosti also showed solidarity with the demonstrators – and was arrested. Now she is free again. Meanwhile, Iran’s head of state finds conciliatory words.
According to Iran’s head of state, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “ill-fitting headscarves” are not “contrary to religion and revolution”. “Poorly or loosely fitting headscarves are not right. But it doesn’t mean that we should look at them contrary to religion and revolution,” Iran’s religious leader was quoted as saying by the Irna news agency. “We all have weaknesses that we need to fix, and anything we can fix gets better.” After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, strict Islamic clothing regulations were introduced in Iran, which are also controlled.
Iran’s political leadership has been under enormous pressure since the nationwide protests broke out in mid-September. Triggered by the death of the Iranian Kurd Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody, Tehran plunged into the worst political crisis in decades. The 22-year-old was arrested more than three months ago for violating Iran’s Islamic dress code.
The protests that followed, which were also directed against the Islamic system of rule, were violently suppressed. In the meantime, more and more women in Iran’s metropolises can be seen in public without a headscarf. While the so-called vice police, who also arrested Amini, have almost completely disappeared from the streets, the compulsory wearing of headscarves is said to be followed up by other methods, such as video surveillance.
Meanwhile, actress Taraneh Alidoosti, who has been jailed for supporting the protest movement, has been released on bail, according to media reports. “My client was released on bail today,” her lawyer Sahra Minooee was quoted as saying by the Isna news agency. Pictures published by the reform-oriented newspaper “Schargh” in the online service Telegram allegedly showed Alidoosti after her release from the notorious Evin prison in the north of the capital Tehran. The 38-year-old can be seen surrounded by supporters and smiling on a mobile phone.
After showing solidarity with the protest movement, the internationally known actress was arrested around three weeks ago by order of the judicial authorities. Celebrities and activists abroad had called for their release. Alidoosti had repeatedly claimed responsibility for the protest movement triggered by Amini’s death in September on online networks. For months there have been demonstrations across the country against the leadership in Tehran.
The 38-year-old has starred in several films by renowned Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, including ‘The Salesman’, which won the 2017 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. She also stars in Saeed Roustayi’s Leila and Her Brothers, which screened at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
