Clooney’s ‘Je suis Charlie’ pin costs Iranian paper
Mardom-e-Emrooz banned for running image of actor at last week’s Golden Globes
Like many other Hollywood celebrities, Clooney commands wide popularity among Iranian youths. PHOTO: REUTERS
DUBAI:
Iran’s hardliner judiciary has banned a reformist newspaper for publishing a picture of Hollywood star George Clooney wearing a ‘Je suis Charlie’ (‘I am Charlie’) pin at the Golden Globe Awards 2015, Iranian newspapers reported on Monday.
Mardom-e Emrooz (Today’s People) came under criticism after running the image of the US actor at last week’s Golden Globes ceremony, displaying his support for victims of a deadly attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris two weeks ago.
A conservative press watchdog revoked Mardom-e Emrooz’s permit only three weeks after it started publishing with a pledge to support President Hassan Rouhani in his political and social liberalisation programme, an official news agency said, citing board member Allaeddin Zohurian.
Like many other Hollywood celebrities, Clooney commands wide popularity among Iranian youths, although they only get to watch the pirated copies of his movies. Almost all Hollywood productions are banned in the Islamic republic as “culturally decadent.”
Twelve people were killed in the January 7 shooting at the Charlie Hebdo office, carried out in retaliation for caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). Thousands of religious extremists gathered outside the French embassy on Monday to denounce a new drawing of the Prophet published last Wednesday in the first issue of Charlie Hebdo after the shooting. The cartoon has sparked violent clashes in other Muslim countries as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2015.
Iran’s hardliner judiciary has banned a reformist newspaper for publishing a picture of Hollywood star George Clooney wearing a ‘Je suis Charlie’ (‘I am Charlie’) pin at the Golden Globe Awards 2015, Iranian newspapers reported on Monday.
Mardom-e Emrooz (Today’s People) came under criticism after running the image of the US actor at last week’s Golden Globes ceremony, displaying his support for victims of a deadly attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris two weeks ago.
A conservative press watchdog revoked Mardom-e Emrooz’s permit only three weeks after it started publishing with a pledge to support President Hassan Rouhani in his political and social liberalisation programme, an official news agency said, citing board member Allaeddin Zohurian.
Like many other Hollywood celebrities, Clooney commands wide popularity among Iranian youths, although they only get to watch the pirated copies of his movies. Almost all Hollywood productions are banned in the Islamic republic as “culturally decadent.”
Twelve people were killed in the January 7 shooting at the Charlie Hebdo office, carried out in retaliation for caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). Thousands of religious extremists gathered outside the French embassy on Monday to denounce a new drawing of the Prophet published last Wednesday in the first issue of Charlie Hebdo after the shooting. The cartoon has sparked violent clashes in other Muslim countries as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2015.