Six popular actresses have paid the price for the big "plan for hijab and chastity" launched last month by the Iranian authorities. Two of them have just been prosecuted, media in Iran announced Monday, May 8. Baran Kosari, a 37-year-old independent film star, is being prosecuted for not wearing the veil at the funeral of a recently deceased actor. "His photos were immediately published on the Internet."

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Meanwhile, Shaghayegh Dehghan has been prosecuted for "not wearing the hijab in a café," according to Mehr news agency. Appearing in comedy TV series, the 44-year-old actress has won several awards at Tehran's Fajr Festival, the country's most important film event.

Before them, four other actresses - Katayoun Riahi, Pantea Bahram, Afsaneh Baygan and Fatemeh Motamedarya - were prosecuted for the same reasons.

In Iran, all are respected figures of the small and big screen, and they "play big," said Azadeh Kian, professor of political science at Paris VII Diderot University and an expert on Iran. "They received a judicial warning. This is a first step before the authorities build a case against them for 'danger to national security' - which can earn them a heavy fine, in some cases, the prohibition to exercise their profession of actress, or the confiscation of their passports, "comments the researcher.

None of them were arrested this time. Apart from Katayoun Riahi, 61, who was the first Iranian actress to post photos without a veil on her Instagram page in solidarity with the protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini. The former movie star spent a week in detention in late November and was released on bail, which did not stop her from continuing to appear without an Islamic headscarf.

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As for Pantea Bahram, 53, another heavyweight of Iranian cinema, she was not arrested after appearing bareheaded in mid-April, at the premiere of a new television series, but it is the boss of this cinema in the south of Tehran who was dismissed by the Iranian cinema control body for not chasing the actress from its screening room.

Actress Pantea Bahram posed for photos without a headscarf at the screening of the last episode of the dramatic series, "The Lion's Skin," in Tehran.

More and more women in Iran are peacefully defying the state's forced-hijab rule.#پانته آ_بهرام#بیحجابی_سراسری pic.twitter.com/H16JEr99PE

— IranHumanRights.org (@ICHRI) April 20, 2023

Surveillance of the secret services and sexist lynching

Together, these actresses reflect the diversity of Iranian society, says Asal Bagheri, a professor and researcher at Cergy-Paris University. "They are not only young artists of independent cinema, but actresses from different generations of actresses, from auteur cinema to television comedy. Women who took their courage with both hands to do this independently of each other, like the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement, which affects all spheres of Iranian society."

Some had so far remained silent, says the specialist in Iranian cinema, "because they are under daily pressure from the intelligence services and the Revolutionary Guards". This control can take the form of 24-hour surveillance, regular summonses to interrogations, or blackmail based on compromising photos and information in terms of morality, stolen at parties or in private settings.

Several of these actresses, including Panthea Bahram, have also been subjected to sexist lynchings in the Iranian media. In a TV show, presenter Behrouz Afkhami and conservative director Abdolghassem Talebi lashed out at them, "accusing them of having 'menopausal women' reactions and being just aging actresses, seeking attention and regaining the light by removing their veils."

Civil disobedience

If these actresses disturb so much, it is because they symbolize the civil disobedience that has spread to Iranian society and against which the authorities are struggling to fight. "As they are very popular, their actions have more impact than these brave strangers who also refuse to wear the veil," says Azadeh Kian.

In recent months, more and more women have appeared bareheaded on the streets, following the start of the protest movement sparked by the death in custody in September of Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating the strict dress code.

Iranian women, these heroines.
As regime officials multiply threats against unveiled women, more and more of them are defying the dictatorship. So much admiration for these women, let us support them! #Iran #MahsaAmini pic.twitter.com/D4tK7kiABS

— Farid Vahid (@FaridVahiid) April 11, 2023

Describing the veil as "one of the civilizational foundations of the Iranian nation", the Ministry of the Interior tightened sanctions in mid-April against those who still dare to defy them. "According to the laws in force, removing the hijab is considered a crime," Hassan Mofakhami, head of police security, said in a statement issued on the occasion of the high-profile release of this plan to deter the day.

Heavy fines, sending SMS if women are spotted without the veil at the wheel, confiscation of the vehicle, pressure on their employers – including in the private sector – to have them dismissed, refusal of care in hospital for those who disobey, closure of businesses allowing women to be exposed... So many means used by the authorities to coerce Iranian women. "But it gives the opposite results," says Azadeh Kian. "Because it's not just a question of the veil, it's the ideology of this regime that people reject."

>> READ ALSO: Iran equips public places with cameras to spot unveiled women

Men are not left out, says the researcher. Between 150 businesses, according to the authorities, and 2,000 establishments, according to the reformist daily Shargh, have been closed for failing to enforce the obligation to wear the veil, but "most of the owners of the shops are men". "They agreed to take the risk of leaving women free in their premises, at the risk of having to lower the curtain."

Other scenes broadcast on social networks make the researcher react, such as in the Tehran metro, where men expelled in early May an agent who angered a passenger after ordering her to put her veil back on.

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With AFP

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