October 7, 2019

"Iran has arrested an Instagram celebrity famous for drastically altering her appearance through cosmetic surgery..."

"The social media star known as Sahar Tabar was detained on the orders of Tehran’s guidance court, which deals with 'cultural crimes and social and moral corruption'... She faces charges including blasphemy, inciting violence, gaining income through inappropriate means and encouraging youths to corruption," The Guardian reports, based on a report from the "semi-official" Tasnim news agency.

Here's the crazy-looking picture of her, which is said to resemble Angelina Jolie (in some zombie sort of incarnation).



Tabar does plastic surgery, and we're told "Cosmetic surgery is hugely popular in the Islamic republic," but there's also photoshopping involved. I'm not sure what part of all this is regarded as "blasphemy" by the Iranian authorities.

Tabar used Instagram, the only "major social media" available in Iran. It's accurate, I think, to say that this sort of thing entails "social and moral corruption." The problem is using criminal law to deal with it. The government's solution is worse than the problem. But it's amazing that a person was able to go this far in Iran without encountering a reaction from the government, and it's hard to understand, without living there, how much social media expression like this is a legitimate and admirable rebellion against repression. Without government repression, onlookers are free to simple express disgust at this sort of attack on one's own face.

ADDED: On the subject of plastic surgery in Iran, consider "Why Iran is a hub for sex-reassignment surgery/It is not because the regime is liberal" (The Economist):

Attitudes towards sexuality can be rigid in Iran. A conservative former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once declared that the country didn’t have any gay people. So it seems an unlikely hub for sex-reassignment surgery. But the procedure has been permitted since the mid-1980s, when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini met a trans woman called Maryam Khatoon Molkara, who had been thrown into a psychiatric institution and forcibly injected with male hormones. Moved by her story, he issued a fatwa allowing the procedure, which a cleric later compared to changing wheat into bread. Today the government even helps with the cost.

But the regime’s encouragement of sex-change surgery is related to its intolerance of homosexuality, which is a capital offence. Gay Iranians face pressure to change their sex regardless of whether they want to, say activists and psychologists in Iran. Therapists tell patients with same-sex desires that they may be transgender, not gay....

38 comments:

tim maguire said...

I hope there's more photoshop than plastic surgery in this picture. Otherwise, I feel very sorry for this poor woman and want to see her doctors arrested.

Iman said...

Some things can't be unseen.

Wince said...

Iran: She faces charges including blasphemy, inciting violence, gaining income through inappropriate means and encouraging youths to corruption.

Democrats: Why didn't we think of that?!

Temujin said...

That is just disturbing. Real or photoshopped- it is too disturbing to view. My eyes! My eyes!

Aggie said...

One can see from the perforations on the cushion behind her that this is an altered photograph. However, this shouldn't distract from this poor woman's mental illness. She's probably done for now, sucked into an islamic Kafkaesque morality play - very difficult to defend oneself to begin with, impossible to do if you're already compromised, as she clearly is.

Aggie said...

...the really sad thing is, she was quite a pretty young woman in the 'before' state.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Democrats: Why didn't we think of that?!"

They did, and they do. Imagine what they would do with unchecked power.

Dave Begley said...

"gaining income through inappropriate means"

Hunter Biden better stay out of Iran.

gspencer said...

"and we're told 'Cosmetic surgery is hugely popular in the Islamic republic'"

And what we're not told, but of which we have in hand and in our light of sight the unmistakable evidence, is that Iran's plastic surgeons are incredibly inept.

mockturtle said...

She obviously identifies and Angelina Jolie so she has no choice but to pursue that identity. [sarc]

Howard said...

Angelina Jolie's future

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Angela Jolie Zombie . Yikes!

bagoh20 said...

She looks normal to me, but I spent a lot of time in Los Angeles.

Earnest Prole said...

Michael Jackson’s back and looking better than ever.

Bill Peschel said...

Good lord that was shocking. I sped by quickly once my brain registered it.

I've spent a lot of time on the Net since '95, and learned that some doors were never meant to be opened.

Darrell said...

I'm not sure what part of all this is regarded as "blasphemy" by the Iranian authorities.

The photographic image itself is regarded as blasphemy in Islam. It can get you killed---if authorities want that. Of course, it is overlooked until it isn't.

narayanan said...

I thought Nancy Pelosi after weekend binge

JAORE said...

Yikes!

Of course if that's how she sees herself, that is her true self, right?

And if she makes it onto America's shore she should be able to get taxpayer money to pursue her vision, right?

n.n said...

Why Iran is a hub for sex-reassignment surgery/It is not because the regime is liberal" (The Economist)

Why America is a hub for transgender (e.g. homosexual, bisexual, neosexual) conversion therapy (i.e. indoctrination, corruption)/It is because the regime is progressive liberal (i.e. monotonically divergent).

n.n said...

Bride of Chuckie is not a political statement. It is a sadomasochistic orientation. Oh, well. #NoLabels #NoJudgment Forward!

Bilwick said...

That photo is hot. Very hot.

Francisco D said...

I can't quite put my finger on how, but she makes me think of Nancy Pelosi.

Xmas said...

I dunno 'bout you, but I'm hiding my Dalmatian puppies.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Internet crazies and the fascist Iranian regime mixing it up.

Reminds me of the bug fights we used to stage as kids, put a number of actors in a jar, shaking it up, and watching what happened.

MadisonMan said...

If only all "Instagram Celebrities" could be arrested.

Nichevo said...

Anybody remember the YouTube shooter?

Swede said...

Any physician that does that to another human being should have their medical license ripped up and then be severely beaten in the streets.

walter said...

Maybe she'll get a date with Tim Burton.

PM said...

Jocelyn Wildenstein was the pioneeress.

ellie said...

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/angelina-jolie-plastic-surgery-photos-teenager-lied-sahar-tabar-iran-a8095651.html

ellie said...

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/angelina-jolie-plastic-surgery-photos-teenager-lied-sahar-tabar-iran-a8095651.html

JAORE said...

Tim Burton has a role for her.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

will they punish her by throwing acid in her face ? or FGM?

Paul Doty said...

I don't see a significant difference from transsexual surgery and I'm told that's normal.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Iranian authorities were angry, stating
"the disfiguring of women's faces is OUR job!!"

h said...

"Fatemeh Kh, known as Sahar Tabar, was arrested on charges of blasphemy" WaPo story: She looks pretty crazy, but not as bad as the pic posted here. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/10/07/iranian-instagram-star-who-resembles-tim-burtons-corpse-bride-arrested-blasphemy/ Ellie's post at 3:59 links to a story that says it's a hoax.

mockturtle said...

I don't see a significant difference from transsexual surgery and I'm told that's normal.

Nor do I, Paul. What could be more depraved?

Fernandinande said...

Tabar does plastic surgery,

Apparently it's all makeup and photoshop:

"Her real looks couldn't be more different from her 'artwork'"

Hi-lighting the bad photoshopping in this post's picture.