🔶 The protestors' right to mourn under the siege of political differences.
🔻 Reporting by Atfeh Chaharmahalian.
After the death of Hamid Alidosti, a famous actor and former footballer, Tarana Alidosti, an Iranian film actor, faced a wave of attacks and negative reactions on social media.
The actor's mourning for his father became an arena for judging, blaming and insulting his personal feelings. Meanwhile, the absence of several film and football figures at the mourning ceremony was also questionable. Nahal Mousavi, a journalist, asked the question "Where were all the moviegoers? " Why was the song lonely? He mentioned the absence of his colleagues.
Narges Mohammadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, also wrote about Alidosti's opposition when he mentioned the role of Alidosti's song in the "Zen, Zangid, Liberation" movement and the costs he paid for siding with the protesters. Masih Alinjad, referring to the pressures and deprivations experienced by the actress after the forced hijab interception, wrote: "The song, you didn't take off the hijab alone; you tore the mask off their faces. We are your voice."
Saeed Dehgan, a lawyer, also referred to the image of the song in his father's mourning ceremony as a symbol of the civil resistance of Iranian women.
In another response, 664 political, civil and cultural activists published a message, condoling the death of Hamid Alidosti to his daughter and expressing their sympathy with him. In this message, Hamid Alidosti is mentioned as a figure who "mixed culture, ethics, humility and independence of character with his sporting status and preserved his honor and originality until the end".
These different reactions raised questions beyond looking at the conflict in social networks: Why do political differences in one part of society lead to the denial of the right to mourn and the denial of empathy from others? Is it possible to talk about a kind of "selective ethics" where only "closers" deserve empathy?