Hateful Women
The crazy world of Islamic fundamentalism is laid bare in this report from The Times which says that some hardline harridans from Iran are calling for one of their 'sisters' to be flogged and jailed for kissing a man on the cheek at the Cannes film festival.
So much for the old saying - 'When in Rome, do as the Romans do'.
I suppose it can only be hoped that the allegedly reforming government of Iran's new President, Hassan Rouhani, will take a stand although there's not much sign of that happening so far.
Women zealots call for Iran actress to be flogged over festival kiss
Ms Hatami was caught kissing the Cannes festival president on the cheek Canal+
By Hugh Tomlinson - The Times
The award-winning Iranian actress Leila Hatami faces calls to be flogged and jailed after she kissed the president of the Cannes film festival on the cheek, outraging conservatives at home.
Fifty women from the hardline Baseej militia have started criminal proceedings against Ms Hatami, the star of the Oscar-winning Iranian film A Separation. The women, who dub themselves the “Hezbollah sisters”, have demanded that the actress be punished with 74 lashes and up to ten years in jail for “harming public chastity”.
Ms Hatami, who is serving on the film jury at Cannes and is yet to comment on the controversy, faces a dilemma over whether to return to Tehran.
The row erupted at the weekend when she was photographed alongside fellow jury members Sofia Coppola, Willem Dafoe, Jane Campion and Gael Garcia Bernal, kissing the Cannes president, Gilles Jacob, during a red carpet appearance in the south of France.
In an open letter yesterday, the 50 Baseej members wrote: “Because Leila Hatami is a well-known actress and has knowingly and deliberately taken part in the forbidden act of kissing an unrelated man and appeared in unIslamic dress in public, she is legitimising such behaviour.”
The women demand that Ms Hatami face arrest as soon as she arrives home. The case has been lodged with the cultural section of the judiciary.
The Iranian government, however, may be keen to avoid another self-inflicted public relations disaster.
The Baseej letter comes two days after six young Iranians were arrested in Tehran for posting an online video of themselves dancing to the Pharrell Williams hit song Happy. All but one have now been released on bail, but the arrests have attracted global publicity and caused outrage at home and abroad.
Iranians took to social networks to declare: “Happiness is a crime in Iran.”
Advisers to the Rouhani administration admitted on Wednesday that the six arrests were “not very helpful” to the president’s efforts to remould Iran’s image overseas. His task will not become any easier if Ms Hatami, one of Iran’s cultural stars feted in Europe, is flogged.
The Baseej is a voluntary militia of young zealots set up to support the revolutionary guard. Widely despised by moderate Iranians, the group played a leading role in the brutal crackdown that followed Iran’s disputed presidential election in 2009. Hundreds were killed and thousands thrown in jail as the regime crushed nationwide protests over alleged vote-rigging.
Actors and film-makers were targeted as the crackdown widened to stamp out dissent. Several were barred from working while the award-winning director Jafar Panahi remains under house arrest.
A Separation, which won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2012, was hailed as a national triumph by the regime, even though the authorities had sought to shut down production after its director, Asghar Farhadi, voiced support for dissident film-makers.
