London: Iranian movie star Leila Hatami is facing a severe backlash back home after she gave a peck on the cheek to Cannes festival president Gilles Jacob, as she arrived to take part in the judging.
Students with links to the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran are demanding that Leila Hatami, 42, should be imprisoned and given 50 lashes for the incident. They have said that Hatami also flouted their religious beliefs by appearing in public with her head bare.
Under Iran’s Islamic laws, a man and a woman who are unrelated cannot embrace in public, and neither should a woman have her hair on display.