Swedish Euro MP cuts her hair to support Amini

STRASBOURG, France: A Swedish Euro MP has joined the movement in support of Iranian women by cutting off her hair in parliament and calling for EU action against Tehran.

“We, the people and citizens in the EU, demand the unconditional and immediate halt of all violence against women and men in Iran,” said Abir al-Sahlani of the centrist Renew group late on Tuesday. “Until Iran is free our fury will be bigger than the oppressors. Until you, the women of Iran are free, we are going to stand with you,” said the deputy before taking out a pair of scissors and hacking her hair.

“Women, Life, Freedom!” she shouted, holding up a lump of hair, in a video posted on the parliament´s website. In Iran, women removing their headscarves and cutting their hair has been a key image of the protests in Iran that broke out last month.

They were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, following her arrest by Iran´s “morality police” who enforce a strict dress code requiring women to cover their hair in public. The parliamentary protest came the same day French film stars, including Isabelle Huppert, Juliette Binoche and Marion Cotillard, appeared in an Instagram video cutting their hair with women protesters in Iran. In Strasbourg, the Swedish MP went on to accuse EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell of failing to “take a stand for the women in Iran” at the recent UN General Assembly.