The wedding dress of the daughter of one of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s senior advisors has sparked fury in Iran with people accusing the Islamic Republic official of double standards.
Footage circulating on social media shows Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, escorting his daughter, Fatemeh, into a wedding hall at Tehran’s luxury Espinas Palace Hotel.
The bride wore a strapless white dress with a low neckline and entered the grand room to cheers and music.
The Western-style wedding sparked anger on Iranian social media, with many accusing Shamkhani of hypocrisy, considering the mandatory hijab and modesty laws that have restricted women’s dress for decades.
The footage, purportedly leaked on X on October 17, comes amid reports that the country plans to introduce 80,000 new morality police officers in Tehran to enforce women’s compliance with Islamic dress codes, according to independent TV network Iran International.
People online were quick to point out the bride’s ‘revealing’ attire and her mother’s low neckline, as well as the lavish nature of the ceremony amid young people’s inability to afford marriage.
Roughly half of Iran’s population of 92 million were under the poverty line in 2022, according to reports by Iran’s Statistics Centre.
‘The morality police, unemployment, and poverty belong to the Iranian people, while the lavish ceremony funded by the nation’s money belongs to the Islamic Republic,’ one person wrote on X.
The wedding dress of one of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s senior advisors has sparked fury in Iran with people accusing the Islamic Republic official of double standards
Footage circulating on social media shows Ali Shamkhani, a top advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, escorting his daughter, Fatemeh, into a wedding hall at Tehran’s luxury Espinas Palace Hotel
The bride wore a strapless white dress with a low neckline and entered the grand room to cheers and music
Exiled Iranian women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad wrote: ‘The daughter of Ali Shamkhani, one of the Islamic Republic’s top enforcers, had a lavish wedding in a strapless dress.
‘Meanwhile, women in Iran are beaten for showing their hair and young people can’t afford to marry. This video made millions of Iranian furious. Because they enforce “Islamic values” with, bullets, batons and prisons on everyone but themselves.
‘This isn’t hypocrisy, it’s the system. They preach “modesty” while their own daughters parade in designer dresses. The message couldn’t be clearer: the rules are for you, not for them.’
Alireza Akhondi, a Swedish MP of Iranian descent who has been a vocal critic of the regime, wrote: ‘The daughter of one of the most corrupt and repressive officials of the Islamic Republic is getting married in a lavish celebration, dressed freely.
‘She is free because her father has power. This is no longer religion. This is a display of hypocrisy, corruption, and fear. Fear of women who think and choose freely.’
Shamkhan, a long-time ally of Khamenei, has previously served as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. He left the position in May 2023 to become the supreme leader’s political adviser, according to Reuters.
The wedding was reportedly held in April 2024.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in police custody in 2022 after being arrested for allegedly violating rules requiring women to wear the headscarf.
A demonstrator takes part in a protest following the death of Mahsa Amini, in front of the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, September 27, 2022
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, died in police custody in 2022 after being arrested for allegedly violating rules requiring women to wear the headscarf
Her death sparked a furious nationwide protest movement in Iran led by women and girls.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 500 people, including 68 children, were killed by security forces during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests that swept the country.
Some 20,000 protesters were arrested.
A UN fact-finding mission (FFM) reported that throughout the demonstrations, the Iranian government ‘committed a series of extensive, sustained and continuing acts that individually constitute human rights violations directed against women, girls and persons expressing support for gender equality’.