Juliette Binoche, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Angèle: several French stars cut their hair in a video. They are showing solidarity with the protests in Iran that followed the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini in police custody.
Juliette Binoche at the San Sebastian Film Festival in September 2022.
(dpa) Around 50 famous French actresses and singers have cut their hair in protest at the brutal crackdown by Iranian security forces on anti-government demonstrators. In the protest video published on Wednesday, actress and Oscar winner Juliette Binoche first looks into the camera, says “for freedom”, cuts off a tuft of hair and holds it up to the camera. Other participants in the video, which is accompanied by the anthem “Bella Ciao”, include Isabelle Huppert, Jane Birkin and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
“The Iranian people, especially the women, are demonstrating at the risk of their lives. This people hopes only for access to the most basic freedoms. These women, these men are asking for our support,” says a text accompanying the video on the Instagram account “soutienfemmesiran”. «It is impossible not to denounce this terrible oppression over and over again. The number of dead and injured is already in the dozens, including children. The arrests only add to the number of prisoners already illegally detained and all too often tortured.
death in police custody
The demonstrations were triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in mid-September. The moral police had arrested her because of her alleged “un-Islamic outfit”. What happened to Amini after that is unclear. The woman fell into a coma and died in a hospital on September 16. Critics accuse the morality police of using violence; the police deny it. Since the woman’s death, thousands have been demonstrating across the country against the government’s repressive course and the headscarf requirement.
