Iran’s Hard-Liners Crack Down on Models Not Wearing Head Scarves
By THOMAS ERDBRINKMAY 16, 2016
TEHRAN — Iran’s judiciary unleashed one of its periodic crackdowns on social media permissiveness on Sunday, announcing the arrest of eight people involved in online modeling without a mandatory head scarf and questioning another woman, a former model, live on state television on Sunday.
A blogger, Mehdi Abutorabi, 53, who managed a publishing tool called Persian Blog, was also detained, the semiofficial student news agency ISNA reported on Monday.
The former model, Elham Arab, 26, had been something of an Instagram star, posting pictures of herself in bridal gowns with eye-catching, dyed-blonde hair. But on Sunday, months after her Instagram account had been shut down, she wore a pious black scarf and matching gloves as she was questioned by two prosecutors during a live television show.
In sharp contrast to the happy and glamorous images of herself posted online, Ms. Arab spoke of her “bitter experiences” in Iran’s technically illegal modeling industry and warned young women to think twice before posting pictures of themselves online. “You can be certain that no man would want to marry a model whose fame has come by losing her honor,” she said.
The head scarf issue often features prominently in the constant tug of war between powerful hard-liners and Iran’s increasingly urbanized and worldly society. Iran’s laws require that all women, even visiting foreigners, cover their hair out of a traditional respect for culture and morality. Many hard-liners view the obligatory veil as a last-ditch defense against what they say is an onslaught of Western cultural decadence.
But the main culprit was not Ms. Arab, Tehran’s public prosecutor, Abbas Jafar-Dolatabadi, concluded in the television program. No, the main offender was “the enemy,” Iran’s household label for the West and its unwanted influences.
“The enemy is investing in order to create a generation without any willpower,” the prosecutor said of social media. “We must refrain from any actions that run counter to the values of the establishment.”
The television program was part of a broader crackdown on self-expression and freedoms both online and in the real world that was rekindled after the victory of reformists and moderates in Iran’s parliamentary elections in February.
The crackdown, led by the hard-line-dominated judiciary and security forces, runs counter to the policies of President Hassan Rouhani, who was elected on a platform of greater personal freedoms and has called in several recent speeches for a loosening of Iran’s social strictures. While Iran is undergoing broad changes under the influence of satellite television, the Internet and cheap foreign travel, few laws have been updated since the Islamic revolution of 1979.
With the onset of higher spring temperatures, some women have sought to shed all or parts of the often stifling Islamic uniform. That has brought the morality police back onto the streets of the capital, despite promises by Mr. Rouhani that he would prevent their return. In recent weeks, the authorities raided several parties in the capital and the Caspian Sea region where there was drinking and dancing — both forbidden in Iran.
Nevertheless, the authorities seem hesitant to come down too severely on those who violate the norms. Several popular actors, actresses and athletes, who wield considerable influence through social media platforms, were given a relative slap on the wrist last week after being caught in a raid on an illegal party, local news outlets reported.
“Those artists who play in movies and television series and athletes have the special attention of the youths,” Mr. Jafar-Dolatabadi, who seems to be at the center of the crackdown, said on the judiciary’s website, Mizan. “If you take part in vulgar sessions, we will publicly announce your names.”
The strategy of Iran’s hard-liners is to single out special cases, analysts say, extracting televised mea culpas from prominent figures like Ms. Arab to warn the general public that the ideological lines are not to be overstepped too obviously.
Many here doubt the strategy will have much effect. “They are doing such things to show us who is in power,” Mojgan Faraji, a reformist journalist, said of the hard-liners. “But in the end, they lose, as the gap between them and the society is only widening.”
State television has been steadily losing influence, facing hundreds of foreign-based Persian-language satellite channels, the semiofficial Fars News Agency complained recently.
Nevertheless, many pitfalls remain for women. Last week, a female politician, Minoo Khaleghi, who had won election to Parliament as a moderate, was told she would not be allowed to take her seat after images of her emerged on social media showing her without the obligatory head scarf. On Saturday, Mr. Jafar-Dolatabadi ordered Ms. Khaleghi to explain to judicial officials why such images of her existed, the reformist Shargh newspaper reported.
In the same show, Iran’s prosecutor for cybercrimes, Javad Babaei, announced the arrest of the eight people, apparently in connection with online modeling. His unit is focusing on Instagram, which is not blocked in Iran. “Sterilizing popular cyberspaces is on our agenda,” he said, criticizing the introduction of broadband in the country, “without considering the consequences.”
Models in Iran are ARRESTED and forced to grovel in public for posting glamorous pictures of themselves online without headscarves
- Police have arrested eight models in a crack down on 'un-Islamic acts'
- Operation targeted models who posted photos while not wearing a hijab
- The sting is said to have identified 170 people running Instagram pages
- One famous beauty, Elham Arab, was interrogated at Revolutionary Court
PUBLISHED: 03:42 EST, 16 May 2016 | UPDATED: 15:33 EST, 16 May 2016
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Models in Iran have been arrested and forced to grovel in public for posting glamorous pictures of themselves online without headscarves.
Police have arrested eight models in a new crackdown targeting 'un-Islamic acts' such as women exposing their hair online.
One famous beauty, Elham Arab, known for her wedding-dress portraits, was interrogated on camera at the Iranian Revolutionary Court with her blonde hair hidden under a black chador.
+5
Models in Iran have been arrested and forced to grovel in public for posting glamorous pictures of themselves online without headscarves. Pictured is model Alnaz Golrokh
She was charged with 'promoting western promiscuity' and forced to give public 'self-criticism.'
'All people love beauty and fame,' Arab said. 'They would like to be seen, but it is important to know what price they will pay to be seen.'
The arrests were made the sting operation code-named Spider-2 which particularly targeted users of the picture-sharing site Instagram.
The hijab has been compulsory in public in Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.
The sting is said to have identified 170 people running Instagram pages - 59 photographers and makeup artists, 58 models, 51 fashion salon managers and designers, and two active institutions.
'We found out that about 20 per cent of the (Iranian) Instagram feed is run by the modelling circle,' Javad Babaei said on state television on Sunday.
They have been 'making and spreading immoral and un-Islamic culture and promiscuity', he added.
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Babaei said it was the judiciary's duty to 'confront those who committed these crimes in an organised manner'.
In addition to the eight arrests, criminal cases have been opened against 21 other people, he said.
The sting operation has homed in on a database of over 300 popular Iranian Instagram accounts and connected accounts.
Police have arrested eight models in a new crackdown targeting 'un-Islamic acts' such as women exposing their hair online. Pictured is model Niloofar Behboudi
According to reports those arrested include Melikaa Zamani, Niloofar Behboudi, Donya Moghadam, Dana Nik, Shabnam Molavi, Elnaz Golrokh and Hamid Fadaei.
Arrests follow the detentions of artists, poets, journalists and activists as moderate President Hassan Rouhani's administration secured a landmark nuclear deal with world powers.
The arrests signal that hard-liners in the police and judiciary, who were unable to stop the accord and fear looser social norms will weaken the Islamic Republic, still hold significant power in the country.
Those targeted saw their businesses shut down, as well as their pages on Instagram and Facebook removed. Arab's Instagram account could not be accessed on Monday.
According to reports those arrested include Melikaa Zamani, Niloofar Behboudi, Donya Moghadam, Dana Nik, Shabnam Molavi, Elnaz Golrokh and Hamid Fadaei (pictured)
The previous Spider operation targeted 'pornography and insulting Islamic sanctity,' officials have said.
In recent years, Iranian women - especially in the capital, Tehran - have worn the mandatory scarf loosely on their head, drawing the ire of conservatives in the Islamic Republic.
Tehran police chief Gen. Hossein Sajedinia in April announced his department had deployed 7,000 male and female officers for a new plainclothes division - the largest such undercover assignment in memory - to enforce the government-mandated Islamic dress code.
The model crackdown is just the latest move by authorities to control online expression in Iran.
Nearly 40 percent of Iran's 80 million people can access the Internet, though the U.S.-based watchdog Freedom House describes web access as 'not free' in the Islamic Republic due to censorship and filtering.
In May 2014, authorities arrested a group of young Iranian men and women for an online video of them dancing to Pharrell Williams' song 'Happy.'
While the arrests drew widespread criticism, including from the musician himself, those involved each received suspended sentences of six months' imprisonment and 91 lashes.
The arrests were made under an scheme called 'Spider II', targeting models who post photos online in which they are not wearing a hijab (stock image)
The average monthly income for a successful model is 100 million rials ($3,330), the woman, named as Elham Arab by the judiciary-linked website Mizan Online, told Tehran's prosecutor.
Instagram is extremely popular in Iran. Unlike Facebook, Twitter and YouTube which remain blocked, Instagram is accessible to Iranians.
Instagram, owned by Facebook, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sting is said to have identified 170 people running Instagram pages - 59 photographers and makeup artists, 58 models, 51 fashion salon managers and designers, and two active institutions
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I don't think that is a coincidence.
