Marion Cotillard and Juliette Binoche publicly chopped locks from their hair in a social-media video hashtagged #HairForFreedom
Marion Cotillard, Juliette Binoche and more are showing their support for civil-rights protestors in Iran.
The Oscar-winning French actresses publicly chopped off locks from their hair this week in a social-media video hashtagged #HairForFreedom.
Cotillard, 47, and Binoche, 58, took the step to show solidarity with the thousands of protesters to have bravely taken to the Iranian streets since a 22-year-old woman named Mahsa Amini died in custody on Sept. 16.
Amini had previously been detained by the country’s Morality Police for allegedly wearing a hijab too loosely. Demonstrations broke out following her death, and the ongoing unrest has seen women burning their hijabs or cutting their hair in protest.
“For freedom,” Binoche said in the video as she scissored off a large chunk of her hair, before showing it to the camera. Cotillard is then shown cutting her own shoulder-length hair.
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“Mahsa Amini was a 22-year-old young woman. On Sept. 13, she was arrested and mistreated by the vice police until death,” read a caption, in French, posted alongside Cotillard’s video, which also includes actresses Charlotte Rampling and Charlotte Gainsbourg, plus singer Jane Birkin.
“She was only accused of wearing the veil inappropriately. She died for letting a few strands of hair show. His death outraged and moved Iran and the world,” it continued, before adding that the Iranian people’s struggle for “essential freedoms” has compelled them to act.
“It is impossible not to denounce again and again this terrible repression,” continued the caption. “There are already dozens of dead men and women, including children. The arrests only swell the number of prisoners already illegally detained and too often tortured. We thus decided to answer the call which was launched to us by cutting, us also, some of these locks.”
Alongside her post of the video, Cotillard also wrote, “For the courageous women and men of Iran who are changing the world at this very moment, fighting for freedom. We stand by you.”
“✨In SOLIDARITY for FREEDOM RIGHTS for IRANIAN WOMEN and MEN ✨,” Binoche captioned her post of the clip.
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The #HairForFreedom video follows Angelina Jolie’s call for greater public recognition of the protests in Iran.
On Sept. 28, the Academy Award winner, 47, shared several images taken in the streets to Instagram of Iran raising awareness about the ongoing situation in the country.
“Respect to the brave, defiant, fearless women of Iran,” Jolie wrote in the caption of her post. “All those who have survived and resisted for decades, those taking to the streets today, and Mahsa Amini and all young Iranians like her.”
“Women don’t need their morals policed, their minds re-educated, or their bodies controlled,” Jolie continued. “They need freedom to live and breathe without violence or threats.”
She concluded, “To the women of Iran, we see you #WomanLifeFreedom #MahsaAmini.”
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