Leading Iranian actor posts picture without a headscarf in support of anti-government protests

A prominent Iranian actor has posted a photo of herself without a headscarf on Instagram to express her support for the ongoing anti-government protests. 

Holding a sign reading “Jin. Jiyan. Azadi,” a Kurdish slogan that has become popular during the demonstrations and translates to “Woman. Life. Freedom,” Taraneh Alidoosti’s long brown, elbow-length hair is uncovered as she stares into the camera.    

Alongside the picture, she captioned the post with a poem that translates to: “Your final absence, the migration of singing birds, is not the end of this rebellion.”

NBC News has contacted Alidoosti for further comment.

Iran has been rocked by nationwide protests, led mainly by women, since the death of Mahsa Amini in mid-September after she was taken into police custody for allegedly failing to comply with a law requiring women to cover their hair and follow the country’s strict dress code for women.

Advertisement

Police said Amini, 22, died in a hospital three days following her arrest after she fell ill and slipped into a coma, but her family has said witnesses told them she was beaten by officers, and it has complained about the way her death has been investigated.

A coroner’s report released last month by the Iranian Legal Medical Organization, which describes itself as independent but is part of the country’s judiciary, said Amini died from multiple organ failure, caused by an underlying disease.

Iran’s clerical regime has struggled to contain a movement that over almost three months has kept spreading and growing and the demonstrations since her death have posed one of the most serious challenges to the government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. 

Many have chanted slogans against the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Ebrahim Raisi.

A prominent presence in Iranian cinema since her childhood, Alidoosti is globally known for her role in the director Asghar Farhadi’s “The Salesman,” which won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2018. 

She also starred in “Leila’s Brothers,” the Iranian film directed by Saeed Roustayi, which featured at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It has been banned from theatres in Iran.

A well-known human rights and women’s rights activist, Alidoosti is one of several female Iranian actors who have expressed their support for the protests by posting pictures on social media of themselves with their heads uncovered. She has commented publicly on unrest in the past.