• UN goodwill ambassador has come under fire.
• Priyanka Chopra spoke out against Mahsa Amini’s death.
• She supports women who defiantly protest the regime in Iran.

Priyanka Chopra, an Indian actress, and UN goodwill ambassador have come under fire for her decision to speak out against Mahsa Amini’s death in custody while remaining silent on domestic women’s issues.

The 40-year-old Bollywood singer, who is currently based in the United States, stated last week that she was in “awe” of the women who have been defiantly protesting the regime in Iran, a country with a majority of Muslims.

The voices that finally speak after long periods of coerced quiet should erupt like a volcano. She stated this on Instagram, where she has more than 82 million followers. “And they will not, and MUST not, be stemmed.

Following the murder of Amini, 22, who had been arrested for wearing a “improper hijab,” dozens of Iranian women took to the streets to protest the government, rip off their hijabs, and chop off their hair in sympathy. Nearly a month of protests is said to have resulted in the deaths of dozens of protestors and security personnel.

“I am amazed by your bravery and your motivation. It is difficult to take an actual life-threatening risk to oppose the patriarchal system and defend your rights. However, you are strong women who do this every day at your own expense, Chopra added.

However, critics have charged Chopra, who was named a UNICEF goodwill ambassador in 2016, with “selective indignation” and “double standards” for failing to speak out for India’s Muslim women, who have been subjected to abuse because they wear a hijab.

b New Delhi-based poet and activist Nabiya Khan told Al Jazeera that she anticipated hearing from an Indian celebrity about the discrimination against minorities in her home nation.

“They have the power to act and the voice to speak, yet they chose to remain silent. When anything happens abroad, Indian celebrities are quick to weigh in, which is understandable if they weren’t ignoring domestic issues, the expert claimed.

As a result of the Hindu right-wing government’s prohibition on the hijab in educational institutions, Khan said that thousands of Muslim women in the southern state of Karnataka are unable to attend schools and universities and that this has “outlawed their faith.”

Priyanka Chopra, a so-called champion of women’s emancipation, “somehow doesn’t grab the eye of it,” Khan said Al Jazeera.

Krishnan claims that Chopra’s stance on Iran is intended to solidify her leftist credentials in Hollywood, where speaking up on such matters is customary.

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