Iran: Panel depicting famous veiled women changed after controversy

A large billboard with photos of dozens of famous Iranian women in full veils was changed in Tehran on Friday following complaints, amid protests over the death of Mahsa Amini.

The death on September 16 of this 22-year-old Iranian Kurd unleashed a wave of protests in the country. She had been arrested three days earlier by Tehran’s morality police for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women, including wearing a headscarf.

Dozens of people were killed, mainly among protesters but also among security forces, and hundreds more were arrested, according to Iranian authorities.

A highly criticized montage

The large billboard, located in Valiasr Square, in the center of the capital, showed this Thursday a montage made with dozens of photos of famous Iranian women with veils.

Among them: athletes, scientists like the late mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, artists like the poet Parvin E’tesam, or even an early 20th-century revolutionary figure, Bibi Maryam. “The women of my homeland, Iran,” read the middle of the poster. This Friday, the sign had been changed and featured only this text on a white background.

Some women demanded that their photos be removed, citing a “lack of coordination” with them, the Fars news agency reported. Others criticized the montage, lamenting that some of the women depicted in it had removed their veils during the protests, according to the same source.

“I am Mahsa’s mother”

Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya asked for her photo to be removed in a video posted on social media on Thursday.

“I am the mother of Mahsa (…) I am the mother of all the children who are murdered in this country,” she says through tears in the video that has gone viral and in which she appears without a veil.

The billboard was erected by the Owj Arts and Media organization, known for producing cultural works and films in support of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The decision to change the billboard was made after “controversies and violent reactions,” the agency reported. irna officer.