Iranian actress Leila Hatami is facing calls that she should be publicly flogged after she was photographed kissing the president of the Cannes Film Festival on the cheek earlier this week.
Hizbullah Students, an Iranian group that has ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, have filed a complaint to the Iranian courts, indicating that Hatami should be prosecuted for kissing filmfest president Gilles Jacob on the cheek.
The group has also taken issue with the fact that some of Hatami’s hair was visible during her walk down the red carpet, as Islamic law dictates a woman should not have any hair on display. Hatami has worn a head scarf for all of her public appearances in Cannes, but her hair has remained visible.
“We, the undersigned, who are a group of student Muslim brothers and sisters, ask the cultural and media branch of the judiciary to prosecute Leyla Hatami for her sinful act of kissing a strange man in public, which according to article 638 of Islamic Criminal Justice carries a prison sentence,” a petition filed by Hizbullah Students on Tuesday read, according to The Daily Telegraph. “Furthermore, the action of this film star has hurt the religious sentiments of the proud and martyrs breeding nation of Iran and as such we also demand the punishment of flogging for her as stipulated in the law.”
The maximum sentence for Hatami’s infraction is 50 lashes, according to the Telegraph.
Jacob has downplayed the controversy, writing on Twitter that exchanging kisses on the cheek is “a usual custom in the West.”
“I kissed Mrs Hatami on the cheek,” Jacob said. “At that moment, for me she represented all Iranian cinema, then she became herself again.”
Hatami, who starred in the Oscar-winning 2012 film A Separation, is the daughter of celebrated Iranian director Ali Hatami. She has not commented on the controversy.
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