An
Iranian actress has sparked outrage in her home country after
publishing pictures of herself not wearing the compulsory Islamic
headdress.
Sadaf Taherian posted images on her Facebook and Instagram accounts showing her without a hijab in protest at strict Iranian laws requiring women to wear them in public.
The move has provoked a furious reaction from Iran’s ministry of culture which branded her ‘immoral’ in state media and banned her from acting.
Iranian officials have even Photoshopped the hijab back onto her pictures, according to reports.
Sadaf Taherian posted images on her Facebook and Instagram accounts showing her without a hijab in protest at strict Iranian laws requiring women to wear them in public.
The move has provoked a furious reaction from Iran’s ministry of culture which branded her ‘immoral’ in state media and banned her from acting.
Iranian officials have even Photoshopped the hijab back onto her pictures, according to reports.
Taherian says she has also faced abuse from the public and been forced into exile in Dubai, but insists she does not regret her decision.
Speaking to Masih Alinejad on Tablet, a television show on the Voice of America Persian language channel, she said: ‘I was nervous and worried about how people would react to my photos.
‘I did not expect this from the people of Iran, from my own culture – to hear so many insults.
‘I can only feel sorry for their reaction and I have nothing else to say. I want to live in a place and live the way that makes me happy.’
Teharian also lifted the lid on the sexual harassment she faced while working as an actress.
She said: ‘It bothered me when I was acting and the director was thinking about me in any way except acting.
‘He was only waiting for the scene to finish so he could whisper in my ear again.
‘They would put five or six contracts in front of me with only one condition: One month – to be with them.’
She now hopes to rebuild her career in Dubai.
Iranian women have been legally required to cover their hair in public since 1979.
Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has spoken in the past about the strict Islamic dress code, saying that he was against a clampdown on women wearing looser clothing in the hot summer months.
He said the ‘virtue’ of a woman who does not comply with clothing laws should not be questioned, adding that ‘many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous’.
But conservatives have previously held demonstrations in Tehran demanding a tightening of Islamic rules on the hijab, urging the authorities to act on those not adhering to the dress code.
Everyone is born equally capable but lacks equal opportunity. Pierre Omidyar
