Prominent French women cut their hair in solidarity with Iranian women

Actress Juliette Binoche holds her hair up, takes a pair of scissors and says "For Freedom".

Then she starts cutting.

She holds the severed tuft of hair in front of the camera and the resistance song of all resistance songs »Bella Ciao« sounds.

And then the story is told of Mahsa Amini: the 22-year-old woman who was arrested by vice squads in Tehran on September 13 and died three days later.

In the video, shared by tens of thousands of users on social media platforms, more than 50 French actresses and other celebrities can be seen doing the same thing as Binoche and cutting their hair.

The actresses Isabelle Adjani, Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Isabelle Huppert are also there.

The singers Jane Birkin and Angèle can also be seen.

They show their solidarity with the Iranian women who are taking to the streets against the repression in their homeland and risk severe punishment.

According to the credits, the French lawyer Richard Sedillot initiated the action.

Amini "was only accused of not wearing the headscarf correctly," says the video.

"She died because she let a few strands of hair show."

In Germany, more than 600 cultural workers have expressed their solidarity with the protesters in Iran in an open letter.

Among them are Iris Berben, Teresa Bücker, Carolin Emcke, Alexandra Maria Lara, Samira El Ouassil, Dmitrij Kapitelman, Ulrich Matthes and Jasmin Tabatabai.

The letter, written in German, English, Farsi and Sorani, says: »The call for a feminist revolution in Iran is loud and clear.

We see your courageous resistance, we hear your determined voices.

We admire your courage and resistance.«

And further: "We follow with sympathy and admiration how these historic protests want to put an end to the 43-year dictatorship of the 'Islamic Republic'.

The restrictions are massive, the violence threatening.

Yet all ages, all classes, all genders are united in this liberation struggle.

We see what you risk.

We see the sacrifices you make.«

The cultural workers thank the demonstrators for their resistance and courage.

"We will accompany your fight."

kha/AFP