the shock and revolt after the assassination of director Dariush Mehrjui, father of the Iranian new wave

The double assassination of director Dariush Merhjui and his wife last Saturday, stabbed in their residence near Tehran, raises enormous questions. Around ten suspects were arrested and the Iranian police favor the theory of a burglary which went wrong. The opposition to the Iranian government does not believe this thesis at all since recently, the couple had sent several messages suggesting that they felt observed and targeted. In a video that made the rounds on social media in Iran, Dariush Mehrjui and his wife Vahideh Mohammadifar both whisper “Long live freedom !” before the director concludes with a “Be careful”. In addition, Vahideh Mohammadifar claimed to have recently been threatened and that their home had been broken into in an interview published on Sunday October 15 by the main Iranian reformist newspaper.

A director censored throughout his career

Considered the pioneer of new Iranian cinema, Dariush Mehrjui was censored throughout his career. His talent was initially censored under the regime of the Shah of Iran since his film The cowconsidered an absolute masterpiece by the jury of the Venice Film Festival in 1969, was banned in Iran and would only be screened in France 45 years later in 2014.

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Mehrjui was then dubbed by the Islamic revolution since Ayatollah Khomeini considered him for a time as his favorite filmmaker. But he quickly fell into disgrace and the censorship of his films became almost systematic, whether The school we went to in 1980, Baanoo in 1991 or even Santouri in 2007. A final censorship that Mehrjui still did not seem to have digested as he explained in a recent message: “I protest. A film is not milk or meat to say that the consumption date has expired, he is indignant. You gave me permission to show the film. Why are you going back on your words? You banned all my films. You buried one of my films. You threw it in the trash. You banned my film Santouri without reason.”.

A clear message from the government against any protest

Lawyer Nasrin Sotudeh, a major protest figure and human rights defender in Iran, draws a parallel between the assassination of Dariush Mehrjui and his wife and that, in 1998, of politician Dariush Forouhar and his wife Parvaneh, disappeared in the same circumstances as the filmmaker. A few days before the 25th anniversary of the death of the Forouhar couple, opponents of the Iranian regime see it as a signal sent recalling the series of political assassinations perpetrated in the 1990s.

In a statement, the Iranian Minister of Culture claims to have requested “clarifications on the circumstances of this event” which he considers to be “sad and painful”.