Funeral Ceremony of Nasser Malik Motiei Held Amid Protest Chants Against State Broadcasting
The funeral and burial ceremony of Nasser Malik Motiei, an actor in Iranian cinema, was held on Sunday, the sixth of Khordad, in Tehran amid protest chants against Iran’s state television.
According to reports and videos published on social media, motorcyclist security forces rushed toward some of the ceremony participants on Sunday in Tehran’s central streets, and tear gas was fired at the “Behesht-e Zahra” cemetery.
During the morning ceremony on Sunday, which began from the Cinema House building number 2 located on Vassal Street, artists present at the ceremony criticized the restrictions imposed on Nasser Malik Motiei, and a recorded message from Behrouz Vosoughi, an actor of Mr. Malik Motiei’s generation and a resident of America, was also broadcast to the ceremony participants.
In his audio message, Mr. Vosoughi, noting that this was the first time his voice was being heard “among the people and in the soil of the homeland,” said: “Today we must mourn with sorrow the loss of a great man, a brother, and a Nasser Malik Motiei who, like me, waited forty years.”
Nasser Malik Motiei was a renowned actor in Iranian cinema in the years before the 1979 revolution, but after the revolution, except for two films “Barzakhis” in 1982 and “Engraving” in 2015, he was not permitted to act in any film.
A few months ago, his live television interview was cut off in the first minutes without any explanation. Additionally, a program recorded for the series “Around the Table” with his participation was never allowed to be broadcast.
Saeed Rad, Fariborz Qaribian, Mahnaz Afshar, Dariush Farhang, and Perinaz Izadyar were among the artists present at the ceremony on Sunday, and a number of them, including Pouri Banai, Masoud Kimiayi, Ali Dehkordi, Mohammad Motassellani, Pezhman Bazghi, and Mohsen Amiryousefi, delivered brief remarks.
According to ISNA news agency, “the predominant feature of the speeches was complaints about the performance of state broadcasting.”
Amir Ali Malik Motiei, during the funeral ceremony of his father, said: “I ask the head of state broadcasting why my father’s death and his image are broadcast on state television… but until recently it was not possible?”
Based on videos published on social media, the crowds present in the streets around Cinema House chanted slogans such as “Our shame, our state broadcasting,” “Nasser Khan, may your soul rest in peace,” and “Caesar, where are you while people are being killed.”
According to ILNA news agency, during Sunday’s ceremony, the neighborhoods around Cinema House on Vassal Street “were filled with crowds up to the intersections of Enqelab, Talghani, and Valiasr Square.”
Parviz Parastui, another Iranian cinema actor, also dedicated his remarks to severe criticism of Iran’s state television and said: “State broadcasting, which is for the people and is run with people’s money and the national treasury… why should it only remember Nasser Malik Motiei when he has passed away?” According to reports, the body of this renowned Iranian cinema actor was buried in the “Artists’ Section” of Tehran cemetery.
Nasser Malik Motiei, who was born in 1930 in Tehran, died early Saturday morning at the age of 88 in a hospital in Tehran.
The number of cinematic and television works in which he acted before the 1979 revolution reached approximately one hundred productions.
Source: Radio Farda
