Had it not been for this awesome photo I wouldn't have started this new post at this time of night!
I found this picture by coincidence and have been fascinated by its magical grace eversince. It depicts an Iranian girl sadly dressed according to the Islamic republic's dress code wearing a scarf and mantaue standing in front of a Persepolis basrelief. The basrelief is of a Mede tribute bearer offering a gazelle fawn to the Persian Shah as tribute sometime around two and a half millenia ago!
For me the photo conveys a message of a nation's survival amid the upheavals of its history. The girl's way of having worn the strictly enforced hijab is in itself typical of how Iranian women are resisting against the reactionary laws of the clerics who took power in Iran in 1979.
According to Mullahs in power, only a woman's face and hands can be seen in the public by non-related members of the oposite sex. Most recently a mullah in Tehran said during the Friday prayer's sermons on 27.05.2011 that women must cover their heads and necks with long veils. "Shawls are out of the question according to Islam as their hair would be visible." according to the mullah Ahmad Khatami (not Mohammad Khatami the ex-president).
