We told you recently about the scandal that has erupted in Iran over famous Iranian actress Leila Hatami. While attending the Cannes Film Festival , Hatami was greeted by Festival president Gilles Jacob with a customary two-cheek kiss. The kiss was filmed and photographed, as everything surrounding the festival is, and ended up being seen by the folks back home in Iran.
That’s when the Sharia hit the fan.
Iranian deputy culture minister Hossein Noushabadi issued a strongly worded statement, accusing Leila Hatami of bringing shame on all Iranian women for her brazen act of public display of affection.
“Those who attend international events should take heed of the credibility and chastity of Iranians so that a bad image of Iranian women will not be demonstrated to the world,” Noushabadi said.
Gilles Jacob rode to Hatami’s rescue, claiming that he approached her and greeted her as was his custom, implying that she did not return the kiss.
But women in Iran are often subject to all manner of rules and denigrations that Western women would never put up with.
For example, a recent viral video showed girls in Iran dancing to the Pharrell Williams’ hit song “Happy”. The problem was, these women were not wearing the required hijab head covering for women. Now, according to Iranwire, some of these women have been arrested.
Tehran Chief of Police Hossein Sajedinia said his security forces, “were able to identify [these young people] within two hours, and within six hours had arrested them all.”
The girls confessed on the evening news that they had been deceived into appearing in the video. The families of the girls were all told that their loved ones would not be released from police custody if they talked to the press about the charges at all.
The Iranian morality police arrested Zuhara Bani, a 27-year-old medical student, for walking in the park with her boyfriend. Bani hanged herself in the detention facility where she was being held after her arrest.
Ahmad Ruzbahani, chief of the morality police, said, “If someone walks in the street with his partner and commits an offense, we will deal with it.”
Image via YouTube