women's rights
14/02/2008 > IRAN
And the prize for Best Actress?! We’re not entirely sure…
Iran's International Fajr Film Festival was hosted in Tehran last week for the 26th time. But pictures from this year's edition of the popular festival offered an unusual view of the showbiz affair. The FARS news agency blurred out the faces of female guests, making them almost unrecognisable. Our Observer for Iran, feminist Farnaz Seifi, explains why. Read more...
UPDATE (17.30, 15 Feb. 08): Thanks to comments on this post, we have found photos posted by the Fars agency where actresses' faces are not blurred. The photos are part of a different set found at a seperate link. This would suggest that the agency has no consistent policy on whether or not their photographers can show the faces of female actresses.
Photos from the FARS news agency posted on Arash Kamangir's blog.
The contributors
18/12/2007 > IRAQ
Forty women killed in Basra for not following Islamic tradition
In the port of Basra, Iraq's second largest city, the walls are covered with graffiti. The message, written in red, is clear: women who wear too much make-up or do not cover your hair: you are risking your life. Too late, sadly, for some. Around forty women have already been killed for this offence in the past year. Their bodies are often found in rubbish bins, decapitated or mutilated, and accompanied by messages like ‘killed for adultery' or ‘killed for violating Islamic law'.
These crimes have shocked Iraqi bloggers. Most of them condemn the events, but they're divided over the reasons behind the atrocities. Opposed to the occupation, the blog of the Iraqi women's association asserts that the U.S. and their allies are manipulating this affair so that they can depict Iraqis as an uncivilised and violent people. ‘Treasure of Baghdad', an exiled Iraqi blogger, despairs to see Basra fall into the hands of a ‘new Taliban'. And American editor and journalist Robert Stein questions the responsibility of George Bush's government in this chaos. Read more...
The contributors
04/12/2007 > IRAN
Fashion crackdown intensifies: arrests captured on film
Material compiled by our regional editor for Iran and Afghanistan, Jay Bakht
This video was captured on a mobile phone at the Abouzar roundabout in the eastern Iranian city of Birjand. It shows two girls being arrested by the police for not covering their hair properly. The police are supposed to act like a ‘moral authority’ that protects and enforces Islamic customs in Iranian society. But they are not always official. They can approach people acting ‘inappropriately’, for example an unmarried couple holding hands or a girl with heavy make-up. Many people try to resist; as the girls in the video.
Post your questions to Farnaz Seifi, Iranian feminist and our observer in Iran, or to Jay Bakht, our regional editor for Iran and Afghanistan.
The contributors
