Iran to 'take action' against celebrities over Mahsa Amini protests


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Iran has vowed to “take action” on celebrities and journalists who have backed protests over the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the country's so-called morality police.

Actors, musicians and sportspeople have supported the demonstrations, with the Iran national football team remaining in black tracksuits during anthems before a match against Senegal in Vienna, which many saw as a sign of support for the movement.

“We will take action against the celebrities who have fanned the flames of the riots,” Tehran provincial governor Mohsen Mansouri said on Thursday, according to the ISNA news agency.

Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said “those who became famous thanks to support from the system have joined the enemy when times are difficult”.

The warnings came after almost two weeks of protests across Iran and a deadly government crackdown.

Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights said at least 83 people, including children, have died.

Public anger flared after Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died on September 16, three days after her arrest for allegedly breaching Iran's strict rules for women on wearing hijab headscarves and modest clothing.

“Woman, Life, Freedom!” protesters have chanted ever since, in Iran's biggest demonstrations in almost three years, in which women have defiantly burned their headscarves and cut their hair.

President Ebrahim Raisi warned that, despite “grief and sorrow” over Amini's death, public security “is the red line of the Islamic republic of Iran and no one is allowed to break the law and cause chaos”.

Iran on Thursday slammed “interference” in its internal affairs by France over a statement in support of the protests, having earlier complained to Britain and Norway.

Solidarity protests with Iranian women have been held worldwide, and rallies are planned in 70 cities Saturday.

One protest erupted in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, where women rallied outside Iran's embassy with banners that read: “Iran has risen, now it's our turn!” and “From Kabul to Iran, say no to dictatorship!”

Forces of the ruling hardline Taliban fired their guns into the air to disperse the crowd, then swiftly snatched the banners and tore them up, an AFP correspondent reported.

Journalist arrested after covering funeral

Iran on Thursday arrested reporter Elahe Mohammadi, who had covered Amini's funeral, her lawyer said. She is the latest of a growing number of journalists to be detained.

Police have also arrested journalist Niloufar Hamedi of the reformist Shargh daily, who went to the hospital where Amini lay in a coma and helped expose the case to the world.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday that three additional journalists, Farshid Ghorbanpour, Aria Jaffari and Mobin Balouch, had been arrested, bringing the total to 28.

Intelligence officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arrested 50 members of “an organised network” behind the “riots” in the holy Shiite city of Qom, the Guards said, according to Fars news agency.

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

HIJRA

Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy

Director: Shahad Ameen

Rating: 3/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

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Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

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Price: From Dh117,059

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
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  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The National's picks

4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young

The specs

Price, base / as tested Dh960,000
Engine 3.9L twin-turbo V8 
Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Power 661hp @8,000rpm
Torque 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.4L / 100k

While you're here
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Company profile

Name: Thndr

Started: October 2020

Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: FinTech

Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000

Funding stage: series A; $20 million

Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC,  Rabacap and MSA Capital

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GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

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While you're here
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.

Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.

"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."

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The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA

Price, base / as tested Dh150,900 / Dh173,600

Engine 2.0L inline four-cylinder

Transmission Seven-speed automatic

Power 211hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque 350Nm @ 1,200rpm

Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km

The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press

Maestro
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Updated: September 30, 2022, 6:47 AM`