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Liberation Front.
A website
that hopes to draw and keeps your attention for both the global 21th. century 3rd. feminist revolution as well
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JINA MAHSA AMINI
The face of Iran's protests. Her life, her dreams
and her death.
In memory of Jina 'Mahsa' Amini, the cornerstone of the 'Zan.
Zendegi. Azadi revolution.
16 February 2023 | By Gino d'Artali
And also
Read all about the assasination of the 22 year young
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Zendegi, Azadi (Women, life, freedom) revolution in Iran
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'BIOLOGICAL |
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Here we are to enter THE IRANIAN
WOMEN'S REVOLUTIONISTS against
Dear reader, from here on the 'Woman,
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and more here: |
2-weekly opinion by Gino d'Artali: |
November 21 - 17, 2023 |
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali.
'THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE BY IRANIANS APPRAISED CINEMATOGRAPHER DARIUS MEHRUI AND HIS WIFE VAHIDEH MOHAMMADIFAR'
The heinously murdered Darius Mehrjui and his wife Vahideh Mohammadifar
Preface: Dariush Mehrjui (8 December 1939 – 14 October 2023) was an
Iranian filmmaker and a member of the Iranian Academy of the Arts.
Mehrjui was a founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the
early 1970s, which also included directors Masoud Kimiai and Nasser
Taqvai. His second film, The Cow, is considered to be the first film of
this movement. Most of his films are inspired by literature and adapted
from Iranian and foreign novels and plays. In 2022, Mehrjui publicly
dared the officials of the Islamic Republic to kill him for his
opposition to censorship. On 14 October 2023, Mehrjui and his wife were
found stabbed to death in their home in the city of Karaj, near Tehran.
Update
Iranwire - Nov 22, 2023
<<Three Teens Among Main Suspects in Killing Of Iranian Filmmaker
and Wife
Three young teenagers are among the main suspects in last month's
murder of a renowned artist couple, Dariush Mehrjui and Vahideh
Mohammadi-
Far, the Etemad newspaper reported. In its report on November 22,
Etemad quoted an informed source as saying that two suspects named
Dawood and Iskandar are aged 14 or 15. A third suspect named Mirweis is
no more than 15 years old, it added. The three teenagers and the fourth
suspect in the case are held in Ghezelhesar prison in Karaj, near
Tehran, according to the report. Mehrjui and Mohammadi-Far were found
stabbed to death in mid-October at their home in Karaj. Mehrjui, 83, was
known as a co-founder of Iranian cinema's new wave in the early 1970s.
The killings caused shock and outrage among Iranians, with many of them
drawing parallels with political assassinations that have rocked the
country over the past decades. Forty days after the killings, the
narratives presented by state-run media outlets contain numerous
ambiguities and contradictions.
The judiciary has identified the gardener of Mehrjui and
Mohammadi-Far as the primary suspect in the case. It announced on
November 21 that the indictments against the four suspects will be
issued within two weeks. Initially, a person named Karim was reported to
be the main gardener at the villa, but Etemad reported that Mirweis was
the main gardener. Four suspects were named in the case's information:
Karim, Mirweis, Dawood and Iskander. It cited <hostility, financial
demand and theft> as the motives for the killings. However, Dawood and
Iskandar are teenagers with no meaningful connection with the
assassinated couple. Etemad reported that Mashreq media identified one
of the defendants as Dawood, Mirwais' younger brother. However, the
newspaper said that <Dawood does not have a brother named Mirwais.>
According to a report published by the Mashregh News website, the only
media outlet to have interviewed the accused, Karim, the house's
gardener, is the <mastermind> of the crime.
Etemad quoted an informed source as saying that Mirwais <was
their janitor and the gardener at Mehrjui's villa two years ago, but due
to a complaint from Mehrjui and his wife, he was evicted from the
Zibadasht villa.> The newspaper's source said that after Mirwais was
fired, he rented a house in a nearby city. Mashregh News previously
reported that Mirwais <has a daughter who was sick the night before the
incident, but it seems that revenge against Mehrjui was so important to
Mirwais that on the day of the crime, he took his daughter to the doctor
and quickly returned to the crime scene.>
Amid the conflicting narratives surrounding the killings, Manoush
Manouchehri, the lawyer of Mehrjui's daughter, issued a statement
through the ISNA news agency. In the statement, Manouchehri called on
the media to <refrain from publishing any news that has not been
approved by [the family's] lawyers, including the identification of the
murderer or possible murderers.> The daughter of the murdered couple,
Muna Mehrjui, wrote on Instagram: <So far, none of the evidence or clues
surrounding the crime have been examined by us. In our opinion, the
murderer will remain unknown until all aspects have been examined.> >>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/news/122766-three-teens-among-main-suspects-in-killing-of-iranian-filmmaker-and-wife/
UPDATE 25 Oct:
Iranwire - 25 Oct 2023 - by SINA GHANBARPOUR
<<Investigation of Filmmaker's Murder Prompts More Questions—Not Answers
The arrests of suspects in the brutal murder of renowned director
Dariush Mehrjui, and his wife Vahideh Mohammadifar, has sparked fresh
questions into the facts of the violent incident. A film reenacting the
crime scene itself has also amplified uncertainties over the precise
sequence of events leading to the double murder. Statements made by the
Mehrjui family's lawyer have also intensified the confusion. Manoush
Manouchehri, legal representative of Mona Mehrjui, the murdered Dariush
Mehrjui's daughter, stressed that the family has not been involved in
the investigation and does not have knowledge about the case details.
The lawyer has therefore requested that, until the investigation
concludes, proceedings are finalized, and a verdict is reached through
trial, there should be no news coverage of the case and the identities
of the suspects should not be revealed. No indictments have been issued
so far and the criminal investigation is ongoing. Authorities have
claimed to have apprehended the prime suspects however-yet this seems to
have only excited more questions in the minds of the public.
What Happened and When?
The timeline of the murder remains unclear-yet a precise chronology is
essential for a flawless handling of criminal cases. According to the
official police statement, the initial call to the police emergency
center (110) was made at 1020pm on the evening of October 14. Iranian
media reports suggest that the crime occurred between 830pm and 10pm
that evening. Additionally, police revealed that around 850pm, that
night, Mehrjui sent a text message to his daughter, requesting her to
return home for dinner. Information on the forensic report detailing the
cause and manner of the murder is based on statements by Hossein Fazeli
Harikandi, Chief Justice of Alborz province. Harikandi has said that the
forensic report indicates the cause of death for Mehrjui and his wife
were wounds from a knife or a sharp object. Furthermore, it was noted
that blows from <a stick or a hard object struck the head of Mehrjui,
resulting in a fractured skull. This was not the cause of death.> The
autopsy report is expected to provide comprehensive details, including
the manner and depth of the injuries, the angle at which the victim's
body was struck and other details. However, due to the ongoing nature of
the murder investigation, access to such a report seems improbable.
Additionally, there is no available map or floor plan of Mehrjui's
residence that would enable a thorough reconstruction of events.
Information on the crime scene and how the crime may have occurred is
drawn from videos and statements by the police and state media.
A Crime Scene Busier than a City Street
When studying the investigation of the crime scene and efforts to
reconstruct events, as depicted in the exclusive footage from the police
and the judiciary news agency, several aspects warrant a closer look.
These include the absence of firearms and specialized forensic attire at
the crime scene, during the investigation, as well as the substantial
number of individuals present. <At present, there are 30-40 detectives
actively investigating the crime scene,> the police news agency
correspondent reportedly said, from the victims' kitchen at their home.
All entries and exits to the crime scene should also be meticulously
documented to ensure its preservation and proper documentation.
Why Were the Doors Left Unlocked?
News of the murders broke alongside the revelation that Mohammadifar,
Dariush Mehrjui's wife, had previously mentioned receiving a threat on
her Instagram. The discovery raised a pertinent question. When faced
with danger, people often, and unconsciously, resort to taking
precautionary measures. Therefore, the question that arises is: why were
the doors of the building left unlocked? If Mona Mehrjui, Dariush's
daughter, could provide insights into the events leading up to the crime
in the preceding weeks, some of these uncertainties might be resolved.
Which Door Did They Use?
In the film documenting the crime scene investigation, Mohammed Qanbari,
the head of Iran's detective police, underscores that the doors of the
villa where the crime occurred were found to be open. Upon close
examination of the videos released, it appeared that there is one main
entrance to the building, and the kitchen features a single door as
well. he exact whereabouts of those arrested after entering the house
were also uncertain.
The circumstances surrounding when and how Mehrjui and his wife became
aware of the presence of intruders in their home remain unclear too.
Reconstruction the Scene
The video depicting the reconstruction of the crime scene, released by
the Iran judiciary' news agency, Mizan, lasts 5 minutes and 31 seconds.
Seventy-four seconds are dedicated to the murder of Mehrjui, while 144
seconds revolve around the events leading to the killing of Mohammadifar.
The individual posing questions in the film sequentially queries the
arrested individuals in a manner that is more suggestive than
investigative.
When addressing the blows inflicted on Mehrjui's head with the sticks,
the interrogator merely inquires about the number of strikes, neglecting
to ask about the hand used, the specific area of impact on the head, and
the ensuing injuries on the victims. Moreover, no queries are made
regarding the manner in which the knife was obtained or held. Notably,
in the film, the actor portraying the victim positions his head forward,
even though the objective of reconstructing the crime scene is to
elucidate the potential consequences of each action taken. At another
juncture, the questioner inquires whether the arrested individuals had a
verbal argument. Throughout most of this film, the arrested individuals
appear to be affirming the questioner's queries rather than elaborating
on their actions.
Why Are There No Signs of Injuries?
According to accounts provided by the police, coupled with the televised
search operation initiated with the assistance of police dogs in the
villa and the adjoining vacant land, to locate traces of the perpetrator
or perpetrators' blood at the crime scene, there was another significant
development.
Javan newspaper, in an article dated October 18, stated, <The blood of
the assailants was tracked in the Mehrjui case.> In a video of the crime
scene investigation, Mohammad Qanbari, head of Iran's detective police,
remarked, <We discovered marks on the victim's hands that we believe are
linked to the perpetrator.> However, an examination of the photographs
released by the Mizan news agency and the video documenting the crime
scene reconstruction reveals that none of the four arrested individuals
displayed any hand injuries that would result in bleeding and leave
blood at the scene. Given that the use of dogs in crimal investigations
adheres to established standards and is typically employed in operations
aimed at providing support or discovering victims' remains or personal
belongings, a pertinent question arises: was the police's involvement
merely a staged performance for public consumption? Furthermore, if the
police indeed possessed such a vital lead, why were the arrested
individuals devoid of any injuries?
Ambiguity Surrounding Blunt Trauma
In the same video of the crime scene investigation, Hamid Hodavand, the
police commander of Alborz province, states, <Mr. Mehrjui was struck on
the head with a stick.> In the film, the arrested individuals are
questioned about how many times they struck Mehrjui, with one of them
saying
<four.> This raises a significant question: what was the nature of these
four blows to the head of an 84-year-old man? Did they strike with
force, as in a serious assault, or was it more as a form of
intimidation? Furthermore, it is crucial to ascertain which side of
Mehrjui's head was targeted. One would expect that the force of such
blows would push him backwards and immediately destabilize him.
Considering the impact of the four blows, should the location of the
stab wounds not correspond to the point at which his balance was
disrupted? Regarding Mehrjui's location at the time of the incident, the
arrested individuals were questioned about it. However, it remains
unclear when Mehrjui rose from the sofa and moved towards the
assailants, or whether the assailants advanced towards him as well. At
this point, meanwhile, the precise position of Mehrjui's wife remains a
mystery.
Bound Hands
One of the questions that contribute to the confusion surrounding the
crime revolves around the binding of Mohammadifar's hands. According to
the accounts of the arrested individuals, after entering the room, one
of them held her head while another bound her hands and gagged her
mouth. This raises a crucial question: if the assailants intended to
harm Mohammadifar, would they not have first used the same methods they
used on Mehrjui, involving a stick and a knife? The act of binding
Mohammadifar's hands becomes significant when the attacker or attackers
seek to extract information from the victim, or in another scenario, if
they harbor concerns about the victim's physical strength, potential
escape, resistance, or willingness to fight back. But these potential
motives become obscured due to the significant number of alleged
attackers involved in the crime.
Who Lit the Cigarette?
In the crime scene reconstruction film, the interrogator repeatedly
poses inquiries to the arrested individuals regarding cigarettes and
Mohammadifar's phone. Three minutes and 11 seconds into the film, the
detainees are asked, <When she dropped the cigarette, did she have her
phone in her hand or not?>
This question introduces yet another layer of ambiguity.
The police asserted that, upon finding Mohammadifar's mobile phone in
the possession of one of the arrested individuals, they discovered an
unsent text message. Shargh newspaper reported this information on
October 22, indicating that Vahideh Mohammadifar typed a message with
the content <Karim came to our house ttttttt> to her daughter when the
assailants entered their home, but she did not have the opportunity to
send it. This message remained in her phone's memory, which was
recovered after the phone was found on one of the defendants and
subsequently unlocked by the police. However, in light of this data,
another puzzling question emerges: if Mohammadifar had the chance to
reach out for help by calling 110 or another person, why did she solely
send a text message to her daughter? Adding to the complexity of the
situation is the statement made by Mohammad Ghanbari, the head of the
detective police, in the video of the crime scene investigation, where
he states, <The lady ran into the room and closed the door and locked
the door,> while pointing to bloodstains on the bedroom wall. This
statement raises questions regarding the act of smoking and discarding
the cigarette inside the room. Contrarily, the accounts provided by
Ghanbari suggest that Mohammadifar may have initially been in a public
area of the house and sought shelter in the bedroom. Consequently, the
question arises: if Mohammadifar did not have her phone on her during
the attackers' assault, where was the text message, which the police
claim to have found on her phone, written and saved?>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/features/121891-investigation-of-filmmakers-murder-prompts-more-questionsnot-answers/
Iranwire - 23 Oct 2023
<<Iranian Officials Accuse the Filmmaker's Gardener in Brutal Double
Murder
The former gardener of renowned Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and his
wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, an accomplished screenwriter, has been named
by the Alborz chief justice as a suspect in the couple’s brutal murder.
Mehrjui and his wife were knifed to death on October 14 in their home.
Iran's Mizan news agency has meanwhile released a video reconstructing
the murder scene. The footage presents three individuals as alleged
perpetrators of the crime. Hossein Fazli Harikandi, Chief Justice of
Alborz Province, also claimed that the motive behind the murder is
believed to be revenge over financial disputes and a claimed debt of 30
million tomans ($600). Harikandi also said that a total of 20
individuals were initially apprehended as possible suspects. Three
individuals emerged as prime suspects after interrogations. The
individuals later also confessed to the involvement of a fourth person
in the murder. Facts around the double murders have been buffeted by
conflicting statements from various security and judicial institutions.
Harikandi has pointed out that four individuals were present at the
crime scene on the night of the incident. The fourth person possessed a
knife, the murder weapon, and stolen mobile phones. The apprehension of
this individual proved pivotal in advancing the investigation by
providing critical evidence. The prosecutor also underscored factors
such as the low height of a wall and an open entrance to the building -
facilitating the assailants' entry and the subsequent knife attack. A
chilling video, republished in Iran's state-run media under the title
<Reconstruction of the Murder Scene,> features the alleged perpetrator
describing how he struck Mehrjui on the head four times with a blunt
object before stabbing him. The Alborz prosecutor told Mizan news agency
that the case is currently under review in his office. Following an
indictment, the case will be forwarded to the court, with further
details expected to be unveiled. Many Iranian artists and filmmakers
have meanwhile called for official transparency in the case amid growing
public concern and interest in the high-profile case. They are demanding
answers regarding the murders of the prominent director and his wife.
But a spokesperson for the police, under the mandate of the Ministry of
Interior, has declared that all information related to the case should
be confined to the judiciary. Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi stated that every
relevant document linked to the murder of Mehrjui and Mohammadifar has
been handed over to the judicial system. <As of Thursday, October 19,
the Ministry of Interior ruled that all information concerning this case
will be published exclusively through judicial channels,> he said. The
reconstruction of the crime scene was carried out under stringent
security measures, in Zibashahr, at the residence where the incident
took place. No reporters or media personnel were allowed to be present
except for a designated state television reporter. The justice system
and due process in Iran is seriously flawed, according to many observers
and activists inside and outside the country, with suspects being
routinely forced to <confess> to crimes they did not commit and facing
show trials without access to lawyers. Mehrjui was renowned as one of
the founders of Iran's new wave of realistic films in the 1970s while
Mohammadifar was a screenwriter and costume designer. The slaying of
Mehrjui and his wife has caused shock and outrage among Iranians, with
many of them drawing parallels with political assassinations that rocked
the country in previous past decades. The 83-year-old Mehrjui and
Vahideh Mohammadifar were stabbed to death over the weekend in their
home in Karaj, near Tehran. Their October 18 funeral was attended by
many of the country's most well-known artists. Slogans such as <Women,
Life, Freedom> and <Murderers, murderers should be disgraced> were
chanted, highlighting the grief and defiance running through the
crowd.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/news/121804-iranian-officials-accuse-the-filmmakers-gardener-in-brutal-double-murder/
Iranwire - October 16, 2023 - by SHIVA RAHBARAN
<<'Come and Kill Me!': Killing Mehrjui and the Repeat of 1990s
Chain-Murders
<I am a protester! […] I am a victim of [your injustice]. ...You give me
permission for the release of my films and then retract it [at your
whim]? Who are you [to act] like ghosts behind curtains and issue orders
[arbitrarily]? .... Mr Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance! I want
my rights! I can't take this [injustice] anymore! I declare war against
you and your organisation! Look! Here is my chest - Come and kill me!
Destroy me! Do what you want to me! But know that I will seek my rights
with my life,> Dariush Mehrjui's video message, March, 2022. In an
emotional and eerily prescient video message - some 18 months before he
and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadi, were savagely stabbed to death in their
home in a Tehran suburb - Dariush Mehrjui pulled at his chest and railed
against the Islamic regime and its stifling culture policies. Dariush
Mehrjui, a scholar of cinema studies at the University of California,
Los Angeles, in the 1950s and 60s, became known as a founding member and
doyen of the New Iranian Cinema movement. With his early film Cow (Gaav),
for which he won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1971, he
put Iran as a <film-nation> on the map. According to Dariush Mehrjui
himself, his film Cow in a way single-handedly saved Iranian Cinema from
being completely cancelled under the Islamists who took over Iran after
the 1979 revolution toppled the Shah. In an interview with me, he
pointed out that the burning down of Cinema Rex, which killed over 600
people in the city of Abadan, was a life-threatening sign for cinema:
<At the beginning of the revolution, Iranian cinema was nothing! All the
studios, film institutes and film theatres were dead. [....] Remember
that one of the first revolutionary acts that people committed was to
burn down a cinema. Why? Because they thought that cinemas were centres
of immorality; the core of vulgarity, corruption and Western decadence.
So, we entered a complicated stage: fanatics burning down cinemas and
intellectual film makers saying that they wanted to make films! It was a
most precarious situation. We were on a knife's edge,> Mehrjui said.
Were it not for Ali Khomeini watching Cow by chance on TV, Mehrjui
believes cinema might have died in Iran - just as it did in Saudi
Arabia, where theatre movies were closed from the early 1980s onwards
before being reopened in 2018.
Smita Nordwall, 'After 35 Years, First Cinema to Reopen in Saudi
Arabia', VOA, April 4, 2018.
<No one knew what to do until, by chance, Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader
of the 1979 revolution, watched my film Gaav, i.e. The Cow (1969) on
television. The next day he made a speech and said, 'We are not against
the art of cinema at all. We are in favour of educational and cultural
films such as this film, The Cow,> Mehrjui said. Mehrjui's role in the
resurrection of New Iranian Cinema in the Islamic Republic has always
been a point of contention, especially amongst certain Iranians in the
Diaspora. This has become particularly clear from the varied reactions
to his savage assassination, with some going as far as saying that it
<served him right.> According to these people, Mehrjui was not only
believed to be an <appeaser> of the regime but also an active part of
the anti-imperialist Marxist ideology that found its ally in the
anti-west Islamist school of thought, which directly contributed to the
onset of the brutal and backward theocratic regime in Iran. The fact is
that the founders of New Iranian Cinema in the 50s and 60s had
left-leaning (sometimes downright leftist) inclinations.
These inclinations were very typical in the global flora and fauna of
the <art world> in those days. Iran, being very much in the midst of
that world - not least because of the Pahlavis' enthusiasm and subsidies
for culture -- was no exception. Despite all this, Mehrjuii always saw
himself and his art as a part of Iran, its people and its culture. Iran
was where he got sustenance from. And like many of his colleagues in
Iran who continued to stay, for fear of losing that creative connection
between their country and their art, he too was forced to accept the
same role that most artists in totalitarian regimes have to play; namely
that of the engagé intellectual, while simultaneously working under an
oppressive regime that restricted artistic and intellectual activity.
<Yes, because of my rebellious spirit I have always worked in that way.
I am always pulled towards those who don't accept oppression and
extortion. For instance, before the revolution I concentrated on the
oppressed and disgruntled working class, and my ideology and philosophy
were based on Marxism and the socialist ideologies of the time,> he
said. <Jean Paul Sartre and his supporters were my role models. After
the revolution, as you are aware, the class for which I fought became
dominant, so addressing that group was ridiculous. [...] So now I
concentrate on the middle class, the bourgeois - especially the
bourgeois women. I mean, universally, women do not have the same rights
as men, but in the post-revolutionary Iranian society and under the
pressure of religious fanaticism, Iranian women face worse deprivations
than women elsewhere,> he added. <Especially the compulsory hijab in
Iran has become a symbol of oppression and deprivation globally. It's
interesting for me to see what a woman can do in such a situation; what
means of manoeuvring she has. By now I have made five or six so-called
'women's issues' films - films such as
The cow [1969] with English subtitles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=683USrARbPk
Sarah [1993]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGpVlLmC4v4
Farsi only
, Pari [1995],
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVsUG6hf2JA
with English subtitles
Leyla [1996]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3PJGvCy1Ek
with English subtitles
, Banoo [1998]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxa6FZsgVTw
with English subtitles
and so on. I did not make these films only because I'm interested in
women's issues, but also because I am very sensitive about social
injustice,> Mehrjui continued. Mehrjui and his comrades-in-arms had to
carve out intellectual and artistic spaces within the censorship
restrictions of the regime to operate and create. This was and continues
to be extremely difficult in a system that not only restricts art, but
also uses it as a means of propaganda. That made him a target for both
the proponents of the Islamic regime and its adversaries. Both of these
groups criticised him and his colleagues for continuing to stay and work
in Iran. He was attacked for being both a non-conformist and an
appeasement artist. Mehrjui argued this was one of the regime's tactics,
leveraging both of these sentiments to create a large 'double' divide in
a sense - between artists and their works on the one hand and the
audience on the other. This divide is the biggest tragedy affecting the
film industry in Iran after the Islamic revolution. In the context of
the Woman_Life_Freedom Uprising, this tragic divide is not only damaging
the film industry but also the unity of the opposition against the
Islamic regime. After his and his wife's dead bodies were found by their
daughter, the police immediately released a statement saying that the
incident had happened for an unknown reason by an unknown person or
persons, with the motive of the murder still unknown. However, judging
by the storm of anger and resentment, it is clear that nobody in Iran
believes this statement. Faced with the greatest wave of protests since
2009, the regime has resorted to increasingly brutal methods of
oppression in an effort to stem the Woman_Life_Freedom Uprising.
Blinding, jailing, torturing, poisoning, and killing of protestors is
what people risk every time they openly raise their voices against the
regime. Assassinations are on the everyday agenda. Most Iranian people
view this 'mysterious murder' in the same light as the assassinations of
public intellectuals in the 1990s -- infamously known as the
'Chain-murders.' The death of Mehrjui and Vahideh Mohammadi serves as a
particularly gruesome reminder of the double murder of Dairush Forouhar
and his wife Parvaneh - another intellectual couple that was murdered in
an eerily similar way 25 years ago. Dariush Forouhar - Mehrjui's
namesake - the leader of the Iran National Party at the time, and his
wife Parvaneh were butchered by savage stabbings in their home, too. The
'mysterious assailants' were never found and tried. Now as then, it is
widely believed in Iran that the regime aims at scaring public
intellectuals: <No one is safe; you won't be spared! Even the great
Master Dariush Mehrjui wasn’t!> - that is the message. In the last days
of his life, Mehrjui was collaborating with Hassan Solhjou, a filmmaker
and a senior producer of BBC World Service, on a (unfinished)
documentary in which he passionately expressed his opposition to the
regime and the compulsory hijab by beseeching his wife to remove her
hijab. After some deliberation she does and they both laughingly hang
the pink scarf from a tree. Sadly, it took his and his wife's bloodied
corpses to show that Mehrjui stood on the right side of history.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/society/121651-come-and-kill-me-killing-mehrjui-and-the-repeat-of-1990s-chain-murders/
Note by Gino d'Artali: I love the Iranian cinema! I must have, through
youtube, a database of about 100 movies and most as I call them
socially-society engaged. Since yesterday I'm watching again 'PARI', a
gem! Especially and also the opening scene when the main-role character
recites part of a poem and I'm not sure but I wouldn't be surprised when
it was written by the passed-by (unfortunately) Forugh Farrokhzad. If
you know please mail me at info@cryfreedom.net Thank you, Shukrah.
Read below all about the news of him and Vahideh Mohammadi being
slaughtered and the pressumable arrest of their murderer:
Iranwire - October 16, 2023
<<Iranian film director and Wife Found Stabbed to Death
Noted Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui has been stabbed to death
alongside his wife at their home near Tehran. The 83-year-old Mehrjui
and Vahideh Mohammadifar, were discovered dead with wounds to their
necks, the official IRNA news agency quoted a judiciary official as
saying. The official, Hossein Fazeli-Harikandi, said the director's
daughter, Mona Mehrjui, found the bodies when she went to visit her
father late on October 14 at the home in a suburb west of the Iranian
capital. Police said that <no signs of forced entry can be seen at the
crime scene.> <Traces have been found> at the scene they believe to be
<related to the murderer,> they added. Four suspects have been
identified for their links with the case and two have been arrested,
according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. On October 15, the
Etemad newspaper published an interview with Mehrjui's wife saying she
had been threatened and that their home had been burglarized. The
director was known as cofounder of Iran's film new wave in the 1970s
that mainly focused on realism. He received many awards, including a
Golden Seashell at the San Sebastián International Film Festival 1993
and a Silver Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival in 1998.
Mehrjui studied cinema at the University of California in the early
1960s. Besides his cinema career, he also translated works by the French
playwright Eugene Ionesco and the German Marxist philosopher Herbert
Marcuse into Persian.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/society/121555-iranian-film-director-and-wife-found-stabbed-to-death/
Iranwire - October 18, 2023
<<Brutal Killing Of Iranian Filmmaker Reminds of Past Political Murders
The recent slaying of renowned film director Dariush Mehrjui and his
wife has caused shock and outrage among Iranians, with many of them
drawing parallels with political assassinations that have rocked the
country over the past decades. The 83-year-old Mehrjui and Vahideh
Mohammadifar were stabbed to death over the weekend in their home in
Karaj, near Tehran. Anti-establishment slogans such as <Women, Life,
Freedom> and <Neither Gaza nor Lebanon. My life for Iran> were chanted
at their funeral on October 18. Mehrjui is known as cofounder of Iran's
film new wave in the 1970s that mainly focused on realism. Zahara
Rahnavard, who has been under house arrest since 2010 alongside her
husband, prominent opposition figure Mir Hossein Mousavi, said in a
letter that the stabbing of Mehrjui and Mohammadifar <serves as a grim
reminder of the brutal murder of Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar.> The
70-year-old Dariush Forouhar and his wife, both outspoken critics of
Iran's religious leadership, were stabbed to death in their home in
southern Tehran in November 1998. The couple ran a small secular
opposition party. <It also evokes memories of the tragic suicides and
mysterious deaths that have befallen artists and other activists,>
Rahnavard also said. Jailed human rights advocate Nasrin Sotoudeh
commented on the killing of Mehrjui and Mohammadifar in a Facebook post,
questioning the nature of the crime. <Regardless of whether this is a
politically motivated murder, it underscores our determination to pursue
a referendum to establish a functioning government. Even in the most
optimistic scenario, it is clear that the current government cannot
ensure public security,> she wrote. Speaking to the BBC's Persian
service, firm director Mani Haghighi noted that <just 25 years have
passed since the 1988 series of political murders, and the Iranian
people earnestly hope that such heinous crimes will never occur again.>
<The minimum expectation is a swift identification of the perpetrators
of this crime,> Haghighi said.
On October 15, the BBC's Persian service aired excerpts of a documentary
about Mehrjui, in which he says he is tired of <four decades of deceit,>
referring to the 44 years of Islamic rule in Iran. In another scene, the
film maker removes his wife's headscarf and whispers: <The headscarf is
done, finished, come with me...oh, you have such beautiful hair...my
beauty.> >>
Read more here:
https://iranwire.com/en/society/121646-brutal-killing-of-iranian-filmmaker-reminds-of-past-political-murders/
Iranwire - October 19, 2023
<< <Main Murderer> of Famed Iranian Filmmaker Mehrjui and His Wife
Arrested
Iranian authorities say they have arrested the <primary murderer> of
renowned Iranian film director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, Vahideh
Mohammadifar, semi-oficial media reported. The 83-year-old Mehrjui and
Mohammadifar were stabbed to death over the weekend in their home in
Karaj, near Tehran. Mehrjui is known as cofounder of Iran's film new
wave in the 1970s that mainly focused on realism. His wife was a
screenwriter and costume designer. Their slayings have caused shock and
outrage among Iranians, with many of them drawing parallels with
political assassinations that have rocked the country over the past
decades. Tasnim news agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC), quoted police spokesman Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi as
saying on October 19: <Moments ago, the primary murderer, who had
previously been taken into custody by the police, confessed after
undergoing technical procedures.> <We can now confirm with confidence
that the individual responsible for the deaths of this artist and his
wife is now in custody,> he added. Justice in Iran is seriously flawed,
with suspects being routinely forced to <confess> to crimes they didn't
commit and facing deeply unfair trials. The police spokesman also said
that investigators are now seeking to identify potential accomplices,
adding, <In the near future, we intend to reconstruct the crime scene
and provide additional information.> The previous day, the funeral of
Mehrjui and Mohammadifar in Tehran was attended by many of the country's
most well-known artists. Slogans such as <Women, Life, Freedom> and
<Murderers, murderers should be disgraced> were chanted, highlighting
the grief and defiance running through the crowd.>>
Source:
https://iranwire.com/en/news/121673-main-murderer-of-famed-iranian-filmmaker-mehrjui-and-his-wife-arrested/
Women's
Liberation Front 2019/cryfreedom.net 2023