A photomontage of dozens of renowned Iranian women all observing hijab disappeared from a Tehran billboard Friday.
Authorities hung up the large montage in a bid to show they had the support of famous women amid ongoing anti-government protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody.
The move backfired and the montage was removed within 24 hours of being erected as it featured some personalities known to oppose the headscarf rule.
Outrage over Amini’s death on September 16, three days after she was arrested by the notorious morality police, has fueled the biggest wave of street protests and violence seen in the country for years.
The montage featured athletes, social and cultural figures, such as late mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani, early 20th-century revolutionary figure Bibi Maryam Bakhtiari and poet Parvin E’tesami.
Fars news agency said the montage was removed after some of the figures featured had asked for their pictures to be taken down, saying they were not consulted beforehand.
Some observers criticized the billboard for showing women who had removed their headscarves during the recent protests, it added.
Iranian actress Fatemeh Motamed-Arya demanded that her picture be removed.
“I am Mahsa’s mother, I am Sarina’s mother, I am the mother of all the children who are killed in this land, I am the mother of all Iran, not a woman in the land of killers,” Motamed-Arya said on Thursday in a video that has since gone viral.
She appeared in the video without a hijab headscarf, seemingly in a vehicle.
The billboard was raised by Owj Arts and Media Organization, known for pro-regime films and cultural productions.
The decision to remove the pictures was taken after “controversies and reactions,” the organization said in a statement carried by state news agency IRNA.
The billboard on Valiasr Square often features symbolic murals related to religious, social and political themes.
