Iranian media break rules in show of respect for mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani

The death of trailblazing Iran-born mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani from cancer has challenged the nation's strict rules on women's appearances.

The front pages of Iranian newspapers bearing portraits of the top female scientist Maryam Mirzakhani, who died of cancer on July 16, 2017.

The front pages of Iranian newspapers bearing portraits of the top female scientist Maryam Mirzakhani, who died of cancer on July 16, 2017. Source: ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images

In some cases newspapers even broke with tradition and portrayed Mirzakhani without her hair covered by a hijab - mandatory for women in public since the Islamic republic's 1979 revolution.

Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the coveted Fields Medal, died aged 40 on Saturday in a US hospital after the breast cancer she had been battling for four years spread to her bone marrow.

Mirzakhani was born and studied in Iran before leaving to pursue her career in the United States.

When she won the Fields Medal -  the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for mathematics - in 2014, newspapers used every means possible to avoid showing her hair, including publishing old images of her in Iran with covered hair or drawing her picture with an improvised head scarf.

Some criticised the move then and on Sunday many chose to publish Mirzakhani's picture without a hijab -- perhaps easier to justify for authorities after her death.

Hamshahri, a centrist newspaper owned by the municipality of Tehran, and reformist economic daily Donyaye Eghtesad both used full-blown portraits of her without a hijab.

"The Queen of Mathematics' Eternal Departure," Donyaye Eghtesad's headline read.

The reformist Shargh daily published a photo of her wearing a hat - under the headline "The Queen of Numbers Land" - while some others used designs and photo editing to fade her signature short hair into a black backdrop.

Only ultraconservative newspapers Resalat and Keyhan did not feature Mirzakhani's picture on the front page, with the latter covering her story in an inside page with a picture of her wearing hijab.

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Published 17 July 2017 6:59am
Updated 17 July 2017 12:14pm
Source: AFP


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