Funeral ceremony for Nasser Malek Matiei amid protest slogans against the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation
The funeral and burial ceremony of Iranian cinema actor Nasser Malek-Matiei was held in Tehran on Sunday, June 26, amid protest slogans against Iranian state television.
According to reports and videos posted on social media, security officers on motorcycles attacked some participants in Sunday's ceremony on the central streets of Tehran and also fired tear gas at the Behesht Zahra cemetery.
At the Sunday morning ceremony, which began at Building No. 2 of the Cinema House on Vesal Street, the artists present at the ceremony criticized the restrictions imposed on Nasser Malek-Matiei, and a recording of Behrouz Vosoughi, an actor of Mr. Malek-Matiei's generation and resident of the United States, was also played to the participants in the ceremony.
In his audio message, Mr. Vosouqi said, noting that this was the first time his voice had been heard "among the people and on the soil of the homeland," and added: "Today, we must mourn with sadness the loss of a great man, a brother, and a loyal Nasser, who, like me, waited for forty years."
Nasser Malek-Matiei was a well-known actor in Iranian cinema in the years before the 1957 revolution, but after the revolution, except for the two films "Barzakhiha" in 1982 and "Naghsh-e Negar" in 2015, he was not allowed to act in any films.
A few months ago, his live TV interview was cut off in the first few minutes without explanation. Also, a program recorded with him on the "Dur Hemi" series was never allowed to air.
Saeed Rad, Faramarz Gharibian, Mahnaz Afshar, Dariush Farhang, and Parinaz Izadyar were among the artists present at Sunday's ceremony, and a number of them, including Pouri Benaei, Masoud Kimiai, Ali Dehkordi, Mohammad Motavasalani, Pejman Bazeghi, and Mohsen Amiryosefi, also gave short speeches.
According to ISNA news agency, "the predominant theme of the speeches was complaints about the performance of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation."
Amir Ali Malek Matiei also said at his father's funeral: "I ask the head of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation why the news of my father's death and his image are being broadcast on the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation... but it wasn't possible until a while ago?"
According to videos posted on social media, the crowd in the streets surrounding the cinema chanted slogans such as "Our shame, our radio and television," "May your soul rest in peace, Nasser Khan," and "Where are you, Caesar? You are killing people."
According to ILNA news agency, during Sunday's ceremony, the neighborhoods around the Cinema House on Vesal Street "were packed with people up to the intersection of Enghelab, Taleghani, and Valiasr Crossroads."
Parviz Parastoei, another Iranian film actor, also devoted his speech to harsh criticism of Iranian state television, saying: "The voice and image that are for the people and are run with the people's money and the treasury... Why should a time like this remember Nasser Malek-Motiei, who has passed away?" According to reports, the body of this famous Iranian film actor was buried in the "Artists' Plot" of Tehran Cemetery.
Nasser Malek Matiei, who was born in Tehran in 1930, died on Saturday morning at the age of 88 in a hospital in Tehran.
The number of film and television works he acted in before the 1979 revolution reaches about one hundred works.
Source: Radio Farda
