Bar Crobar

Plus de 1200 personnes arrêtées depuis le début des manifestations

Le mouvement de contestation ne faiblit pas et a déjà coûté la vie à 41 personnes. Il a débuté le 16 septembre, après le décès d’une jeune femme pour «port inapproprié de vêtements».

Les autorités ont interpellé 450 nouveaux manifestants dans le nord de l’Iran, où plus de 700 personnes ont déjà été arrêtées pour avoir participé aux protestations contre la mort d’une jeune femme détenue par la police des mœurs, a annoncé lundi un média officiel.

Mouvement de contestation

«Lors des troubles de ces derniers jours, 450 émeutiers ont été arrêtés à Mazandaran», a déclaré le procureur général de la province, Mohammad Karimi, cité par l’agence officielle Irna. Samedi, les autorités avaient fait état de 739 manifestants arrêtés parmi lesquels 60 femmes à Guilan, province voisine de Mazandaran, dans le nord du pays.

Les manifestations ont commencé le 16 septembre, date du décès de Mahsa Amini arrêtée trois jours auparavant à Téhéran pour «port inapproprié de vêtements» dans la République islamique, où le code vestimentaire pour les femmes est strict, en particulier le port du voile islamique.

Le mouvement de contestation s’est propagé dans plusieurs villes du pays, où les manifestants ont crié des slogans hostiles au pouvoir, selon les médias locaux. «Au cours des derniers jours, des émeutiers ont attaqué des bâtiments gouvernementaux et endommagé des biens publics dans certaines régions de Mazandaran sous la direction d’agents étrangers», a-t-il affirmé.

Aucune indulgence

Dimanche, le chef du pouvoir judiciaire, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejeï, a menacé de ne faire preuve d’«aucune indulgence» vis-à-vis des manifestants et appelé les forces de l’ordre à agir «fermement» contre «ceux qui portent atteinte à la sécurité».

Selon un bilan officiel non détaillé, incluant manifestants et forces de l’ordre, 41 personnes ont été tuées en dix jours de protestations. Mais le bilan pourrait être plus lourd, l’ONG Iran Human Rights (IHR), basée à Oslo, faisant état d’au moins 57 manifestants tués.

L’agence de presse Tasnim a publié lundi une vingtaine de photos de manifestants parmi lesquels des femmes dans diverses rues de Qom, importante ville sainte chiite située à près de 150 km au sud de la capitale. Les institutions militaires et sécuritaires ont publié ces images des «meneurs des émeutes» et appelé les habitants à les «identifier et informer les autorités», a ajouté l’agence.

The Taliban ask television channels to stop broadcasting series with women in them

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has issued "religious directives" to television channels and journalists.

The Taliban Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has called on Afghan television stations to stop broadcasting series featuring women, as part of new "religious directives" broadcast on Sunday. "Television stations must avoid showing soap operas and soap operas in which women have appeared", says a document issued by the ministry to the media.

It also asks them to ensure that female journalists wear "the Islamic veil" on screen, without specifying whether this means a simple headscarf, already usually worn on Afghan television, or a more covering veil. "These are not rules, but religious directives", ministry spokesman Hakif Mohajir told AFP. Afghan television stations are also being urged to avoid programmes "opposed to Islamic and Afghan values", as well as those that insult religion or "show the prophet and his companions". This is the first time the ministry has attempted to regulate Afghan television since the Taliban seized power in mid-August.

Respect for "Islamic values

During their first reign, from 1996 to 2001, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, responsible for ensuring that the population respected "Islamic values" on a daily basis, was feared for its fundamentalism and the punishments it entailed. The Taliban had banned television, cinema and all forms of entertainment deemed immoral. People caught watching television were punished and their equipment destroyed; possession of a video recorder was punishable by public flogging. For a time, television sets could even be seen hanging from lampposts.

Overthrown in 2001, the Taliban returned to power last August in a country with a transformed media landscape after 20 years of Western-backed government. Over these two decades, the media sector has exploded, with dozens of private radio stations and television channels springing up. They offered new opportunities to women, who were not allowed to work or study under the Taliban in the 1990s. Today, although the Taliban are showing a more moderate face, they have still not allowed many women to return to work in the public services.

Classes for girls in secondary schools and public universities have not yet reopened in most of the country. At private universities, the Taliban have demanded that female students wear veils. Taliban fighters have also on several occasions beaten up journalists accused of covering "unauthorised" demonstrations by women.

Text Le Matin.ch (AFP)

Faced with the Taliban, Afghan women are torn between fear and resignation

As a sad symbol, burqa sellers achieved record sales in Kabul on Tuesday, where women are anticipating restrictions on their freedoms.

AFGHANISTAN - Women were in short supply on the streets of Afghanistan on Tuesday 17 August, the day after the Taliban took power.

Women fear a return to the same type of fundamentalist regime that they experienced under the Taliban from 1996 to 2001. At that time, women were forbidden to go out without a male chaperone and to work, while girls were forbidden to go to school.

Women accused of crimes such as adultery were whipped and stoned to death. Games, music, photography and television were banned. Thieves had their hands cut off, murderers were publicly executed and homosexuals were killed.

As a sad symbol, burqa vendors in Kabul on Tuesday posted record sales, as CNN journalist Clarissa Ward saw for herself. Women are already anticipating the new restrictions on their freedom.

Yet on Tuesday, there was no sign that the Taliban had reintroduced or intended to impose the same ultra-rigorist version of Islamic law as twenty years ago. But no one seemed willing to take the risk. "People are afraid of the unknown", said one shopkeeper, who wished to remain anonymous. "The Taliban patrol the town in small convoys. They don't bother anyone, but of course people are afraid", he added.

A brief demonstration in Kabul

In the Afghan capital, a handful of women demonstrated their opposition to the new regime on Tuesday. Images posted on social networks showed a brief gathering outside the entrance to the Green Zone to demand the right to return to work there as cooks or cleaners. Taliban in lorries tried in vain to disperse them before they were persuaded by civilians to leave.

In Herat, women also fear for their freedoms. In the country's third largest city, a school for women has been able to reopen, but all the pupils now wear the hijab and wonder how much longer they will be able to continue studying.

The Taliban have tried to reassure the population through various media appearances. On Sky News, insurgent spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Monday evening that women need not fear any threats.

"Their right to education is also protected", he said. However, the Taliban remain vague about how they intend to govern Afghanistan.

Text by Le HuffPost with AFP