Topless feminist gruop Femen rallied against the execution of 26-year-old Reyhaneh Jabbari on Saturday in front of the Iranian embassy in Berlin. They expressed their frustration with the Sharia Law that hanged a woman who murdered a former Iranian intelligence official she accused of rape.
Three Femen activists expressed their frustration by writing slogans attacking Sharia law over their topless bodies. Two of the women wore black veils and put a noose around their necks while another one posed as the executioner. They were detained by two police officers.
In central Paris it wasn’t as easy for the French police in riot gear to grab the topless women who protested in front of the Palace of Justice in support of an arrested member of their group. The women wanted their fellow activist Iana Zhdanova to be freed following her arrest on October 15 after she stabbed a statue of Russian President Vladimir Putin with a wooden stake while topless with the words “Kill Putin” painted across her chest. The women’s efforts did not get a release for Zhdanova but they did end up getting another 25 from their fold arrested.
The radical group, originally formed in the Ukraine, fights against religious and government oppression, sexual exploitation and gender discrimination.
This time, they proved too agile for the French police as they ran down the streets chanting even though they were hotly pursued.