ISLAMIC COURT CONFIRMS ARREST OF Mrs. TAHMINEH MILANI
TEHRAN 31 Aug. (IPS) After days of silence, the Iranian Islamic Judiciary confirmed Friday the arrest of Mrs. Tahmineh Milani, one of Iran’s best known and award winning film directors.
The Islamic Revolution Court in Tehran said Mrs. Tahmineh Reza’i Milani has
been detained for her support for "counterrevolutionary grouplets" in
her last movie, the Iranian official news agency IRNA reported.
The Court did not make it clear when Milani was arrested, nor did it identified the group it describes as "mohareb" but friends told Iran Press Service that the 41-year-old moviemaker was taken to prison Sunday, after answering a summons to appear before Tehran's Revolutionary Court.
"She has also implicitly thrown weight behind the mohareb grouplets, those waging war against God, in the movie "The Hidden Half", the Court said.
"Mohareb", is an Arabic word meaning one who fights God and is usually used against persons or groups with leftist trends, like the communists.
But also prominent religious men like Hojjatoleslal Hasan Yusefi-Eshkevari, a leading Islamist reformer have also been accused of the same "sin".
"Based on the latest investigations, she has been inclined to an outlawed mohareb grouplet and judicial proceedings are still under way", it added.
"... She has abused arts as a tool for actions which will suit the taste of the counterrevolutionary and mohareb grouplets," it noted.
"The Hidden Half", a love story based on a contemporary Iranian novel, tells the story of a married woman who remembers about a romantic affair she had with a rebel during the political turmoil of the early 1980s.
The conservative "Resalat" newspaper ran the story, saying the movie portrayed a "positive image" of anti-revolutionaries who staged an armed uprising against the Islamic republic in the early years of the revolution.
The arrest of Mrs. Milani and that of Mrs. Nargues Mohammadi, the wife of Mr. Taqi Rahmani, a nationalist-religious activist and journalist was interpreted by Iranian observers as being part of the unabated campaign by the judiciary against social and cultural change deemed as a threat to the Islamic system, led by Iran’s fundamentalist leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i.
[In faxes to Iranian officials, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) and the Rome-based Association of Iranian Journalists Abroad (AIJA) urged the "unconditional" release of Mrs. Mohammadi as well as all other political prisoners].
RSF has named Mr. Khameneh'i as one of the world’s most implacable enemies of freedom of the press.
Mrs. Milani is also known for her feminist and left-wing views. Her best-known film, "Two Women", has won several international awards.
Her movies generally deal with the plight of Iranian women and their struggle to survive in a male-dominated society. Her best known film, "Two Women", has won several international awards.
Mrs. Milani had been due to travel to Los Angeles to receive an award for The Hidden Half, her latest film.
She is the most prominent figure within Iran's cultural world to have been arrested in a wider crackdown on liberal intellectuals, mostly journalists and academics.
In an interview with a pro-reform newspaper the day before she was arrested, Mrs Milani said she made the Hidden Half with a sense of great anxiety. "But nonetheless I am glad I will find out how much criticism this country can take," she added.
She said she was opposed not just by "reactionary religious groups" but also by "pseudo-intellectuals" who did and said nothing.
The movie finished its scheduled four-week showing in Tehran cinemas on Wednesday. It is not clear why the courts did not stop the film.
Mrs. Milani is the first filmmaker to be arrested in years.
Referring to the arrest, Iran’s most famous satirical writer and showman, Hadi Khorsandi, produced a poster that shows Mrs. Milani and announces: Islamic Republic’s Studios latest production with sixty millions viewers: Tahmineh in Evin. Assistant to the Director: Mohammad Khatami.
The independent Iranian Students News Agency ISNA had quoted an unnamed official with the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry as saying that Milani's arrest was based on a "misunderstanding."
"In our opinion, the accusations levelled against Tahimeh Milani are based on a misunderstanding which we are trying to resolve. We hope to be able to announce her release as soon as possible," the official told ISNA.
Iranian cinema has flourished in recent years from ease in censorship under former Culture Minister Ata’ollah Mohajerani, who was forced to resign under pressure from the leader, and filmmakers are more inclined to break long-held religious and political taboos. ENDS TAHMINEH MILANI 31801