Article
'Zombie' Teen Gets 10 Years
The crime: posting on Instagram. The sentence: 10 years.
An Iranian court has sentenced teenager Sahar Tabar to a decade behind bars after she posted distorted images of her face on social media, Metro reports.
The 19-year-old was celebrated for the Instagram posts, in which she resembled a "zombie" Angelina Jolie—but authorities arrested her in 2019 and charged her with blasphemy, inciting violence, gaining income through inappropriate means, and encouraging youths to corruption.
The Guardian reports that Tabar said two of the charges were dropped and she hoped to be pardoned.
Her remorseful confession was broadcast on Iranian state TV last year, drawing widespread sympathy.
The report said Tabar was plagued by "an abnormal personality and mental state."
But so far, no pardon.
"I call on Angelina Jolie to help an Iranian 19-year-old girl who received 10 years prison sentence for using makeup & Photoshop to turn herself into Angelina," Iranian Journalist Masih Alinejad tweeted Friday. "Islamic Republic has a history of tormenting women. We need to be united against this gender apartheid."
Tabar, whose real name is Fatemeh Khishvand, denied reports that she underwent 50 surgeries to become "zombie Angelina."
She did have some cosmetic surgery, she said, but achieved her Instagram look with makeup and editing.
"It is a way of expressing yourself, a kind of art," she explained. "My fans know that this is not my real face."
QUESTIONS:
1) What were the charges filed and ruling raised against Sahar Tabar?
2) Explain the Iranian authority's reasoning for the punishment.
3) How has Ms. Tabar tried to appeal for her vindication?
4) Do you find anything unlawful with her use of makeup in creating distorted images? Why or why not?
5) If ever, will Angelina Jolie's involvement eventually make a way to free her? What makes you say so?
VOCABULARY/EXPRESSION:
gender apartheid - the economic and social sexual discrimination against individuals because of their gender or sex
