After having praised the courage of an Iranian student who had taken off her clothes to protest against the compulsory wearing of the veil, the environmentalist MP Sandrine Rousseau was taken to task by Marjane Satrapi. The author of “Persepolis” criticized him in particular for former comments made on the wearing of the veil.
The image had made the rounds on social networks: that of Iranian student Ahou Daryaei, who stripped down to her underwear in public at Azad University in Tehran. She reportedly did so in protest after being harassed by members of the Basij, an Iranian paramilitary force, for an improperly worn veil. The young woman was then arrested by Iranian authorities and placed in a psychiatric hospital. This act of defiance towards the mullahs' regime received the support of many women's rights activists around the world, including the environmentalist MP Sandrine Rousseau. “Our body, and everything we put – or not – into it, belongs to us. Strength to Iranian women, to Afghan women, to all those who suffer oppression”she wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on November 3. A position that displeased the Franco-Iranian artist Marjane Satrapi.
In a video published on the same social network, the author of Persepolis protested, recalling that Sandrine Rousseau had made herself “hoot” during a rally for the “Women, Life, Liberty” movement for having previously “declared that the veil is the beautification of woman”. She then criticized a comparison between Iranian women “who, in order to remove their veil, are arrested and tortured” et “the young girl here in France who decides to veil herself”. “By not wanting to be racist, you are playing the game of the fanatics. (…) That you don't understand the situation is OK, everyone has the right to be stupid but at this moment- It's better to keep quiet.”she concluded.
Sandrine Rousseau “threatened with death”
Invited on the BFMTV set on Friday November 8, Sandrine Rousseau defended herself. “We don’t call an MP an idiot”she reacted. “Since this video, I have had to cancel public speaking engagements because I was threatened with death”she added. The MP for the 9th constituency of Paris then wanted to clarify her position regarding the wearing of the veil. “This woman [Ahou Daryaei] is of incredible courage and that Iranian women suffer oppression, there is no doubt about it. (…) What I want for Iranian women is the freedom to wear what they want.”she explains. And specifies: “I just said that if a woman finds herself more beautiful with a scarf on her head, she has the right, and I don’t see what the problem is”. “We are in a democracy, preserving it means not insulting its elected officials”she subsequently added on X, Saturday November 9.
published on November 9 at 6:03 p.m., Floréane Marnier, 6 media
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