Iranian authorities round up celebrities as crackdown on protest continues

Issued on: 11/10/2022 – 08:21

The unrest erupted last month over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, arrested by the notorious morality police for appearing in public improperly dressed. Anti-regime activists say the authorities initially resorted to lethal force, killing dozens in the space of days.

As well as maintaining the threat of force, authorities are increasingly resorting to arrests, with a particular focus on those who publish videos of protests or anti-regime messages on social media.

“They have gone for all for them — cultural activists, women’s rights activists and journalists. Anyone who could transmit information to the outside world or to the internal networks,” said Roya Boroumand, director of the Washington-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center.

“There have been mass arrests,” she added.

The Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), a New York-based non-governmental group, said that according to its count at least 1,200 people have been arrested, including at least 92 members of civil society who were detained arbitrarily at their homes or at work.

Famous people

Even before the current surge in arrests, Iran was in the throes of a crackdown that had seen the detentions of prominent figures including filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, both of whom remain under arrest.

The list of those rounded up so far includes prominent athletes, artists, journalists, lawyers, activists, technology experts as well as students and ordinary members of the public.

International footballer Hossein Mahini was arrested for supporting the protests, while ex-football legend Ali Karimi, believed to be living outside Iran, has been charged over his social media activity.

Ali Daei, once the world’s top international goalscorer in men’s football, had his passport confiscated on returning to Tehran from abroad after bitterly criticising the Islamic Republic on social media.

Reports from Iran also said the passports of traditional singer Homayoun Shajarian, the son the of legendary singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian and prominent actress Sahar Dolatshahi had been confiscated at the airport.

Singer Shervin Hajipour, whose song about the protests became a viral sensation, was detained although he has since been released on bail and posted a video shared by media inside Iran where he described the situation as a “misunderstanding”.

Meanwhile, four Tehran lawyers known for dealing with sensitive cases are all under arrest, the CHRI said.

French celebrities

In France, home to a large Iranian diaspora, over 50 high-profile actors, models, singers and other celebrities are seen on a filmed compilation while cutting their hair in support of Iranian women.

Actors Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Adjani and Isabelle Huppert were joined by Belgian singer Angèle in the hair-cutting videos.

Singer Jane Birkin, her daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg and actor Charlotte Rampling contributed, as did Julie Gayet, the actor and wife of French former President François Hollande.

Cutting their hair “for freedom,” a compilation of the celebrities’ videos was produced with the soundtrack of a Persian version of the Italian folk song Bella Ciao.

State-controlled press reaction

While the issue of women cutting their hair, and chants of “women, life, liberty” are largely ignored by Iran’s state media, some allow careful discussion.

Irna News Agency observes that “women  … face problems at work such as lower salaries than men, lack of insurance, verbal and physical abuse,” but stops short of addressing complaints of the women demonstrating in Iran’s streets today.

The role of Iran’s “morality police” is nowhere discussed, let alone questioned, and Iran’s domestic press largely follows decrees coming from the government.

But the hard-line pro-regime Fars and Mehr news agencies report on President Ebrahim Raisi blaming Iran’s “enemies” for “provoking foreign-backed riots” trying to “target people’s minds with psychological warfare” and “create fear and frustration in the society.”

In another article, the agency warns that the Iranian army, Revolutionary Guard and police are “united and on one front against the enemies.”

Raisi “urged the security apparatus “to quell the disturbances with prudence” and “urged the media to give a clear picture of the incidents to tackle the psychological warfare waged by the enemy.”

Press TV’s English website attacks the US over its support for the demonstrations in a signed opinion piece by Brussels-based observer Elijah J. Magnier, charging that the West’s positive coverage of the unrest is “not about Hijab or women’s rights but forcing Iran into submission.”