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| Video of woman shoved by policeman in Iran sparks criticism on social media |
| 2018-02-24 |
| [DAWN] A video showing an Iranian policeman shoving a woman protesting against mandatory headscarves off her makeshift podium in a busy Tehran street sparked criticism on social media on Friday. The video of the solitary female demonstrator was apparently shot on Enghelab (Revolution) Street, where a woman was first detained in December after standing with her head uncovered waving a scarf on a stick. Since then several dozen Iranian women have published photos of themselves in the street or parks, their heads uncovered, waving their scarves in an act of defiance. The woman in the video is seen standing on a street cabinet with her arms raised in the air, her long blond hair worn in a high ponytail. Asked by two coppers to get down, she replies calmly: "Tell me what my offence is and I'll get down." "Disturbing public order," one of them says. A crowd then forms and starts clapping. In the second part of the video, apparently shot on a cellphone, one of the coppers steps up to the same height as the woman and shoves her off her podium, to the indignation of onlookers. "Where are the human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... ?" a male voice asks. Lawyer and human rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh wrote on Facebook that the policeman broke the law because "no man has the right to treat a woman like this". Twitter users also reacted with dismay. "Breaking the law while in law enforcement uniform is our problem in Iran," one tweeted. |
| Posted by:Fred |