The anti-hijab protests in Iran are in full swing and now even non-Iranian icons are resorting to symbolic gestures to support the cause. The latest example comes from Turkey where singer Melek Mosso, a jazz vocalist, the 33-year-old cut off her hair on stage in solidarity with the Iranian women.
Mosso joined a legion of women showing their support for the anti-hijab protests in Iran. A video that has now gone viral on social media shows the artist cutting her hair on stage in solidarity with the protesters in Iran. Omid Memarian and Sima Sabet shared the clip.
The protests erupted in Iran after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died after being in detention by morality police enforcing strict hijab rules on September 17. The cousin of Mahsa Amini spoke to news agency AFP and said the police said they would take her in to ‘instil the rules in her and before she ended up in the hospital and claimed she was hit in front of her family members. Ten days after her death, the protests have now spread across at least 46 Iranian cities, towns and villages.
A rights group claimed that over 75 people have been killed in the protests amid clashes with security forces. Video clips circulating on social media show women protesters cutting their hair off and removing their hijab and setting them on fire to protest against the strict dress code enforced in the country. Letting go off the hijab is being interpreted as a proclamation of freedom.
Mosso’s gesture comes just a day after Iranian visual artist Bahador Hadizadeh animated Tehran’s Azadi Tower with black hair blowing in the wind. Under Iran's Sharia, or Islamic law, women over the age of seven are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes. A July 5 order by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to enforce the hijab law has resulted in a new list of restrictions on how women can dress.
Offenders face public rebuke, fines or arrest. Melek Mosso is known for her activism and in previous occasions also the singer has not shied away from fighting for rights of women in Arab countries.