Several Iranian Actors Summoned To Prosecutor's Office For Violating Public Norms - Tehran

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published May 03, 2023 | 02:20 PM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd May, 2023) Several Iranian actors received summons to the prosecutor's office over the last few days for violating the norms of social behavior and non-observance of Islamic values, Prosecutor of Tehran's Revolutionary Court Ali Salehi said on Wednesday.

"In connection with ... the behavior of several movie actors that violates Islamic values and norms accepted in society, a number of these figures have been summoned to the prosecutor's office in recent days ... Some of the summoned persons have not yet applied to the judicial body, and in case they fail to appear at the prosecutor's office within the period established by law they will be arrested," Salehi said, as quoted by the Mehr news agency.

Actresses Katayoun Riahi and Pantea Bahram and actor Reza Kianian have recently received summons to the prosecutor's office, the news outlet reported.

On Tuesday, the IRNA news agency reported criminal case were opened against well-known Iranian movie and theater actresses Afsaneh Bayegan and Fatemeh Motamed-Arya for not wearing a hijab.

The move comes amid anti-government protests across Iran associated sparked by Mahsa Amini's death. In September 2022, the 22-year-old woman died under suspicious circumstances after being apprehended by the so-called Guidance Patrol, functioning as a morality police, for not wearing a hijab according to national standards. The protesters accused the authorities of causing the young woman's death by lethally injuring her while she was under arrest, and women massively posted videos of themselves cutting their hair and burning their hijabs. The Iranian government has accused Western countries of encouraging the protesters in an act of interference in Iran's domestic affairs.

Iranian women have been legally obliged to cover their hair with a hijab since the 1979 Islamic Revolution introduced strict requirements related to the religious law and the Islamic dress code.