PARIS: The feted star of an internationally-acclaimed film, Afghan actress Marina Golbahari and her husband have been chased from their home to the brink of suicide in a filthy French asylum shelter after she was photographed without a veil.
Fearful for their lives, the couple has kept a low profile since their arrival just over five months ago for a film festival.
“We never thought of staying,” said Azizi. “We hardly packed anything.” But death threats back home to them and their family, they said, ruled out a return.
Golbahari was only 10-years-old in late 2001 when she was plucked from the streets of Kabul and thrust to stardom as the heroine in the Golden Globe-winning film “Osama.”
She had been selling magazines on the streets of the capital and had witnessed the violence of the recently-toppled Taliban regime first hand when her father was beaten in front of her.
In the film, she played a girl who disguises herself as a boy during the Taliban’s rule so that she can walk freely on the street.
“Osama” was a hit and made Golbahari, now 24, an instant star in her country.
“Cinema is my life,” she told AFP. “In a film, I can say everything about my people.”
Her husband, Noorullah Azizi, also found a way out of grinding poverty through Afghanistan’s burgeoning film industry.
He grew up in Pakistan among the millions of Afghan refugees who had fled the Soviet war of the 1980s. A picture of Golbahari, head uncovered, at a festival in South Korea drew the ire of her countrymen. The imam in her local village of Kapisa announced that she should not return, which Azizi said translates as: “She must die.”
Afghan filmstar in French exile after death threats
Afghan filmstar in French exile after death threats
Sydney man jailed for mailing reptiles in popcorn bags
- The eight-year term handed down on Friday was a record for wildlife smuggling, federal environment officials said
SYDNEY: A Sydney man who tried to post native lizards, dragons and other reptiles out of Australia in bags of popcorn and biscuit tins has been sentenced to eight years in jail, authorities said Tuesday.
The eight-year term handed down on Friday was a record for wildlife smuggling, federal environment officials said.
A district court in Sydney gave the man, 61-year-old Neil Simpson, a non-parole period of five years and four months.
Investigators recovered 101 Australian reptiles from seized parcels destined for Hong Kong, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Romania, the officials said in a statement.
The animals — including shingleback lizards, western blue-tongue lizards, bearded dragons and southern pygmy spiny-tailed skinks — were posted in 15 packages between 2018 and 2023.
“Lizards, skinks and dragons were secured in calico bags. These bags were concealed in bags of popcorn, biscuit tins and a women’s handbag and placed inside cardboard boxes,” the statement said.
The smuggler had attempted to get others to post the animals on his behalf but was identified by government investigators and the New South Wales police, it added.
Three other people were convicted for taking part in the crime.
The New South Wales government’s environment department said that “the illegal wildlife trade is not a victimless crime,” harming conservation and stripping the state “and Australia of its unique biodiversity.”
