Iran bans film festival over poster of actress without hijab

TEHRAN

Iranian authorities have banned a film festival that put out a publicity poster featuring an actress who was not wearing a hijab headscarf, state media reported.

The ban comes after the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA) released a poster for its upcoming Short Film Festival featuring Iranian actress Susan Taslimi in the 1982 film "The Death of Yazdguerd."

"The culture minister has personally issued an order to ban the 13th edition of the ISFA Film Festival, after using a photo of a woman without a hijab on its poster in violation of the law," state news agency IRNA reported late on July 22.

The festival had been scheduled to be held in September.

Wearing a hijab, covering the head and the neck, has been compulsory for women in Iran since 1983, shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

However, Iranian women have increasingly flouted the strict dress code since mass protests began last September calling for an end to compulsory hijab.

The months-long protests were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested by the morality police for allegedly breaching the strict Islamic dress code.

Earlier this month, police said patrols have been relaunched to catch the increasing number of women ignoring the law.

The judiciary's Mizan Online website said that legal measures were being taken against Digikala, a major e-commerce company, over images of female employees not wearing the head covering.

Last week, a Tehran court handed prominent actress Afsaneh Bayegan a suspended two-year prison sentence for failing to wear the hijab at a public event.

It also ordered Bayegan to make weekly visits to a psychological center "to treat the mental disorder of having an anti-family personality" and to submit a health certificate after her treatment, Fars news agency reported.