Vank Cathedral has not placed traditional lights and fireworks have been banned. The official version speaks of “restorations” to be incorporated into UNESCO sites, but for the faithful – in the police’s sights – it is an “implicit support” for the demonstrations. Khamanei’s conciliatory words with women who do not wear the veil correctly.
Tehran () – One of the most important Armenian churches in Iran, the Vank Cathedral in Isfahan, has canceled the annual Christmas celebrations – which Armenians celebrate on January 6 – and the New Year. A gesture that many consider a “sign of solidarity” with the demonstrations in favor of democracy, which began in September after the death of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini – 22 years old – at the hands of the morality police for not wearing correctly the Islamic veil, and which have been violently repressed. Meanwhile, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is using conciliatory tones on the hijab, in an attempt to stem the wave of protests that has now swept across the country.
Christmas decorations and fireworks on New Year’s Eve are a tradition at Vank Church in Isfahan, drawing crowds of worshipers and onlookers. However, this year the church was not decorated with the traditional lights and, instead, a banner was hung in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve announcing the cancellation of the celebrations. The official version is that the site is being restored to register the church as a UNESCO heritage site, but many also read that there is “implicit support” for the demonstrations.
In any case, the measure of the Christian leaders – approved by the majority of the faithful – has not gone unnoticed by local government officials and the police. On the first day of the year, in fact, a group of agents intervened, ordering the faithful who were congregating outside the place of worship to “leave”, closing the area (in the photo) in the following hours.
In the weeks leading up to the festivities, intelligence departments pressured the leaders of the Armenian-Assyrian-Chaldean Church not to publish statements critical of or supporting the protest. However, dozens of Christians recorded and spread messages of empathy and solidarity, while at least 50 young Assyrians received threats and intimidation for some posts posted on social networks. At the end of November, the 38-year-old Christian Bianka Zaia was arrested for “participation” in street demonstrations and for “propaganda against the state”.
Meanwhile, Iranian actress Taraneh Alidousti, jailed last month and locked up in Evin prison for participating in anti-regime protests, has been released. The woman was released after paying a bail of almost 225,000 euros, after spending several weeks in the section where political prisoners are located. The first image of her leaving her cell shows her saying goodbye to her and not wearing the hijab.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also spoke about the Islamic headscarf, stressing that even women who do not wear it correctly are “our daughters” and should not be marginalized. During a meeting held yesterday with pro-government feminists, the supreme guide reiterated that “the hijab is a religious and inviolable necessity. However, this inviolable necessity – he continued – does not mean that if one uses it imperfectly [quizás mostrando un mechón de cabello, como en el caso de Mahsa Amini] should be accused of acts contrary to religion or the Revolution [islámica]Khamenei also coined a term that could soon become commonplace in the Iranian media, describing the veil that does not cover all of the hair as a “weak hijab.” That, he added, is not “a good thing, but it should not do that the person seems foreign to religion and the Revolution, we all have defects to correct”.
