Elnaaz Norouzi has joined the massive protest by women against Iran’s “morality police”.
New Delhi:
Elnaaz Norouzi, the Iranian-born actress best known for her work in the Netflix series Sacred Games, has joined the massive protest by women against Iran’s “morality police” by asserting her right to wear anything what you want.
Ms Norouzi, in a video posted to her Instagram account, joined the protest by stripping off layers of clothing to make it clear what she intends to wear and no one can stop her.
“Every woman, anywhere in the world, no matter where she comes from, should have the right to wear whatever she wants, whenever or wherever she wants. No man or any other woman has the right to judge her or ask her to dress differently,” Ms Norouzi wrote in the Instagram post.
“Everyone has different views and beliefs and they need to be respected. Democracy is the power to choose… Every woman should have the power to make decisions about her own body. I don’t encourage nudity, I encourage freedom of choice,” she wrote.
Before embarking on an acting career, Ms. Norouzi worked for more than 10 years as an international model for brands such as Dior, Lacoste and Le Coq Sportive to name a few.
She was trained in Persian traditional dance. In India she learned the Kathak dance.
For over a decade, Iranian women who have ventured outdoors, even on a simple errand, have done so for fear of running afoul of the notorious morality police.
Those who break the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code are dragged into one of the vice squad’s green-and-white vans to lecture them on how to wear their headscarves, or are brutally beaten.
Many Iranian women have experienced far worse. One of them was Mahsa Amini, 22, who was arrested by morality police in Tehran on September 16 and pronounced dead three days later.
Her death – which activists say was caused by a blow to the head and authorities blame a pre-existing illness – has sparked a spate of protests in which women have burned their hijab headscarves.