Iranian actress strips hijab in powerful protest amid crackdowns

Elnaaz Norouzi strips in support of Iranian women

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A defiant Iranian actress has posted a powerful video in which she strips off her hijab and robes until she is almost completely naked in a damning protest video against the regime’s authoritarian clothing rules. Elnaaz Norouzi, 30, shared the video on her social media, during which she removes her state-mandated headscarf and insisted that “every woman should have the power to decide over her own body!” The actress created the video out of solidarity with the mass protests that have rocked Iran since Mahsa Amini, 22, died in custody after she was arrested by the morality police for “inappropriate attire” on September 13. According to the Acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif, the morality police, who enforce dress code laws which include women covering their hair with a hijab, or headscarf, beat Ms Amini’s head with a baton and banged it against one of their vehicles, causing her to fall into coma.

Ms Norouzi, who stars in Indian crime thriller Sacred Games, said to her two million Instagram followers in the video: “I am not promoting nudity, I am promoting freedom of choice!”

The star begins the video wearing a black hijab and robes, covering all but her hands, eyes and feet. She then removes several layers of clothing, including a dress, jeans, a shirt, a skirt and a crop top, as well as a layer of underpants and her bra.

The actress wrote in the Instagram caption: “’Every Woman, anywhere in the world, regardless of where she is from, should have the right to wear whatever she desires and when or wherever she desires to wear it. No man nor any other woman has the right to judge her or ask her to dress otherwise.

“Everyone has different views and beliefs and they have to be respected.

“Democracy means the power to decide… Every Woman should have the power to decide over her own body!”

The Iranian regime has attempted a brutal crackdown against the protests that have sprung all across the country. This includes deploying the Basij, a paramilitary force fiercely loyal to the regime and often wielding guns or batons to attack and detain protesters.

Meanwhile, multiple reports by social media monitoring groups said that there was a near total internet shutdown in major cities, not only for mobile phones but also landline home connections – believed to be an attempt by the government to cut down on protest groups’ ability to mobilise.

Videos have shown Iranian police beating protesters. A total of 185 are feared to have been killed – including 19 children.

The government says more than 20 members of the security forces have been killed, and insisted they would investigate the deaths of civilians.

Ms Norouzi told India Today that the situation in Iran is “very bad at the moment”, adding that “women have been oppressed for more than 40 years” and that she, having been born in Tehran, had to wear a hijab from early on in her life. She added that she herself had been stopped by the morality police and taken away from ‘re-education’.

The actress said: “It is a scary place to live in. You don’t want to live like that. You don’t want to leave the house and not know if you’re ever going come back. It is sad. We just don’t want our women, our people to live like this.”

Thousands of women in Iran have been taking off their headscarves and cutting their hair in a furious indictment of the regime’s laws.

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Ms Norouzi is not the first celebrity to join the chorus of outcry, with actresses Juliette Binoche and Marion Cotillard filming themselves cutting of their hair in solidarity. The powerful protest of oppressed Iranians has amounted to one of the most prominent challenges to the dictatorship of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The government has insisted that Ms Amini was not mistreated after her arrest and claimed her death was the result of “sudden heart failure”, but her family say she was fit and healthy. A CT scan of Amini’s head showed a bone fracture, haemorrhage, and brain edema, seemingly confirming that she died due to being struck on the head.

The regime has tried to find a number of scapegoats for the violence in the ensuing protests, including armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents, the US and Isreal. Dozens of universities have gone on strike, while witnesses report that people have been chanting “Death to Khamenei” from the rooftops of Tehran.

The protests, and Iran’s response to them, have also impacted its standing on the world stage, with Western states drawing up further penalties to the heavily-sanctioned country in reaction to their crackdown on protests.

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