Iran Charges Two Renowned Actresses, Katayoun Riahi And Pantea Bahram, For Not Wearing Hijab
New Age Islam News Bureau
26 April 2023
• Iran Charges Two Renowned Actresses, Katayoun Riahi
And Pantea Bahram, For Not Wearing Hijab
• Female Seafarer Of Iran, Raheleh Tahmasbi, Creates
History, Becomes First Female Sea Captain
• Oldham Girl Amelia, Raises £40k in Ramadan Turkey and
Syria Earthquake Appeal
• Director Hana Kazim Celebrates Power Of Horror Films
In The Arab World
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-actress-katayoun-bahram-hijab/d/129646
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Iran Charges
Two Renowned Actresses, Katayoun Riahi And Pantea Bahram, For Not Wearing Hijab
FILE -
Iranian actress Pantea Bahram arrives to the 33rd Fajr International Film
Festival, Feb. 3, 2015, in Tehran.
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By
MaziarMotamedi
25 Apr 2023
Tehran, Iran –
Two renowned actresses in Iran have been charged for not wearing headscarves,
as authorities intensify efforts to crack down on people violating the
country’s mandate ory hijab laws.
Iranian state
media reported on Tuesday that Tehran police have referred KatayounRiahi and
Pantea Bahram to the judiciary, accused of “the crime of removing their hijab
in public and publishing its images in the virtual space”.
The well-known
actresses could potentially face fines or prison terms if prosecuted.
Last week,
photos of 53-year-old Bahram posing without a headscarf at a film screening
went viral.
The 61-year-old
Riahi, another veteran actress, was previously arrested in November on
suspicion of “collusion against national security and propaganda against the
establishment” after she became the first of her peers to post an image of
herself online without a headscarf in support of nationwide protests that
erupted in September.
The months-long
protests began after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, died following her arrest
by the country’s so-called “morality police” for allegedly not adhering to the
country’s hijab laws, which were adopted shortly after the 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
During the
protests, several other high-profile actresses, including TaranehAlidoosti, took
off their headscarves in solidarity and were subsequently arrested, prompting
support from abroad.
A growing
number of women across Iran have abandoned their mandatory hijabs since the
protests, with streets and public places in Tehran and elsewhere increasingly
seeing women without headscarves.
The authorities
had largely refrained from cracking down on the women in public in recent
months, and the green and white vans of the morality police have also been
taken off the streets, but a notable shift has taken place this month.
Police chief
Ahmadreza Radan, appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in January
amid speculations about his predecessor’s shortcomings during the protests, has
promised to “seriously” deal with people violating hijab rules that are central
to the Iranian government’s ideology.
A number of
women have since posted images of themselves online without headscarves, with
some even doing away with the loose-fitting gowns that the country’s laws also
require.
Authorities
have announced the closure of dozens of businesses since Radan’s promise to use
“smart” cameras to identify violators in public and crack down on businesses
that served women not wearing the hijab.
On Tuesday, the
state-linked Tasnim news website reported that the sprawling Opal Shopping
Centre in western Tehran, where the sight of young women without headscarves
has become commonplace, could soon be shut down entirely if its board members
continue to ignore warnings.
Tasnim also
said that restaurants owned by a number of celebrities, including actors and
footballers, have received warnings and could face closures.
It reported
that at least three pharmacies in Tehran have been shut down and more have
received warnings while “guild units” affiliated with an unnamed ministry have
also been warned.
However,
authorities appeared to be adopting a less physically confrontational approach,
and have instead boosted efforts to promote hijab as an Islamic and family
virtue.
“Hijab is the
legacy of mothers,” read countless banners across Tehran that include images of
young daughters – and their mothers – with the type of hijab that is accepted
by the authorities.
Source: aljazeera.com
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/25/iran-charges-two-actresses-for-not-wearing-hijab
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Female Seafarer Of Iran, Raheleh Tahmasbi, Creates History, Becomes First Female Sea Captain
Credit:
@Iranobserver01/Twitter
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April 25, 2023
An Iranian
woman, who grabbed the attention of media and state officials earlier as Iran’s
first female seafarer, has finally made history this time by being promoted to
a naval captain’s rank.
Raheleh Tahmasbi
began her seafaring career back in 2010 with a sailor certificate in the port
city of Bandar Lengeh, southern Iran.
After seven
years of tireless efforts and seafaring activities, she was reportedly promoted
to a lieutenant officer’s rank. The same year, she was also chosen as Iran’s
exemplary seafarer. Tahmasbi was the first female in this position.
Captain
Tahmasbi holds a Master’s in computer. She was initially teaching marine
courses after receiving her TFT certificate and has been employed as an
instructor of advanced sea survival techniques.
The highlight
of Captain Tahmasbi’s career is that she secured a place in Iran as an
influential woman in 2018 and completed a three-month-long commanding course in
2023. Currently, she is serving as the Middle East’s and Iran’s first-ever
female naval captain.
Source: marineinsight.com
https://www.marineinsight.com/shipping-news/female-seafarer-of-iran-creates-history-becomes-first-female-sea-captain/
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Oldham Girl Amelia,
Raises £40k in Ramadan Turkey and Syria Earthquake Appeal
25th April
By Jack Fifield
An Oldham girl
who memorised the 99 names of Allah in just eight days has raised tens of
thousands for the Turkey and Syria earthquakes.
The amount of
money raised on the Givebrite page for the charity appeal, run by the Global
Relief Trust, has already reached more than £40,000 in donations.
The number of
people killed in the Turkey and Syria earthquakes has topped more than 50,000.
Two earthquakes,
of magnitude 7.8 and magnitude 7.5, hit the countries hours apart on February
6.
A third
magnitude 6.4 quake hit the area weeks later, on February 20.
Afruz said: “I
just came back from Syria, and I sent her [daughter Amelia] some videos and
said ‘these are the children and families you’re going to be helping’ and she
wants to do more now.
“She wants to
do something crazy next year, hopefully.”
Dad Afruz hopes
his daughter’s next campaign will be able to raise money for the local
community as well as the international community.
“If we don’t do
it in Ramadan we might do it after Ramadan, maybe I’ll get her to walk with me,
walk from Oldham to somewhere iconic, we’ll see – we’re still planning,” he
added.
Afruz has just
returned from a visit to affected areas in Turkey and Syria as part of the
campaign.
He visited
Gaziantep in Turkey and Idlib in Syria from April 11 to 16, calling the
experience an ‘eyeopener’.
Afruz said:
“I’ve travelled to other countries but this was different because people were
in a war-torn country, there was no support and the living conditions, the
communal bathrooms – women have to walk 500 to 700 metres away from where
they’re living to get to a bathroom where they have to share.
“During Ramadan
where people are getting up for Fajr [dawn prayer], in order to have their
in-the-night meal, it was very difficult for people to go to the bathroom, come
back, eat when they need to, and then fast as well. It was an eye-opener in
that sense.
“People moving
around was difficult because there were no proper roads and it was wet and
windy, the roads were muddy and we went out delivering food at iftar time, we
went out delivering food at midnight so they can eat something at night so they
can fast the next day.
“The children
and the families are so grateful. If it was somewhere else people would go
crazy when they see a bit of food packs and trucks coming with food.
“They were very
calm, they’re collected, they took what they were given. They weren’t
ungrateful, they’re very hopeful, they know it’s a challenging life for them
but they’ve accepted it and there’s so much we can do, we’re not even touching
the tip of the iceberg.
“There’s so
much that needs to be done. We don’t get media coverage, BBC, ITV, things like
that. It needs to be highlighted more so more funds can go that way.”
Those wishing
to donate to the charity appeal can do so at the link in the first part of the
article.
Amelia Manha,
who celebrated her ninth birthday earlier this month, has helped to raise more
than £40,000 in a charity appeal.
Daughter of
campaigner Afruz Miah BEM, Amelia started her charity campaigning at age six.
Source: theoldhamtimes.co.uk
https://www.theoldhamtimes.co.uk/news/23479700.oldham-girl-9-raises-40k-ramadan-earthquake-appeal/
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Director Hana
Kazim celebrates power of horror films in the Arab world
HAMS SALEH
April 25, 2023
DUBAI: Director
Hana Kazim founded Wiswas Productions, dubbed the first Arab horror-focused
production company, in a bid to celebrate the power of the thrilling genre.
The Emirati
auteur recently directed a Saudi Arabia-focused episode of STARZPLAY’s
“Kaboos,” which is set in different eras and across countries in the MENA
region, taking viewers on a journey through frightening urban legends from
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and the UAE.
“I found that
there’s a lot of interest in horror and a lot of stories to tell, and a lot of
things you can say through horror,” Kazim told Arab News.
“I think some
of the most courageous stories right now are being told through the mask of
horror, mainly because horror can seem like to the mass audience as a
spectacle, but in reality, horror has always been a champion of telling some
deep truth about society, a huge commentary on society, and it’s almost like
the most acceptable form of commentary in almost every region,” she added.
After receiving
a master’s degree in fine arts specializing in film production at the
prestigious American Film Institute in Los Angeles, Kazim returned to the
region to hone her craft.
Kazim’s
decision to launch her company came after the release of her short film “Makr,”
which she wrote and directed in 2018. The movie, which gained more than half a
million views online, screened at several genre festivals including Fantastic
Fest in Texas and FrightFest in London. It was translated to Farsi, Korean and
Japanese.
The director,
who has worked as a film executive in the UAE since 2015 and has been involved
in the production of several Arab films, including “Rashid & Rajab” (2019)
and 2021 box office hit “Al-Kameen,” said that she believes horror, “for the
most part, hasn’t been done well” in the region, because finding a perfect
storyline in is a challenge in the genre.
“I think our
audiences are still a little too critical of everything they see. They take
everything a little bit more literally. So, having to break into horror is
tough because you have to be somewhat near being realistic while at the same
time balancing the scales of not being too aggressive or too judgmental,” Kazim
said.
The director
believes that the main reason horror as a genre has lagged in the region is
because filmmakers are going for scares rather than meaning.
“I think Arab
audiences are always looking for meaning in stories, be it a comedy, be it a
drama — they’re looking for meaning more than just entertainment. And
unfortunately, we, filmmakers, come from entertainment. So, we feel like making
entertainment and we forget the idea of having meaning behind stories,” she
added.
“I think the
Middle East has the potential to be well known for its horror because we have
so many untold stories, be it from folklore to real stories — there’s a huge
timeline of horror films that we can make that could span around 20, 30 and 40
years.”
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2292656/lifestyle
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URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/iran-actress-katayoun-bahram-hijab/d/129646