Interview conducted by Stéphane Bussard, journalist at Le Temps.
Born in 1974, Delphine Minoui is an acclaimed journalist specializing in the Middle East and the Near East. She has covered major events in the region for leading French-language media outlets over the past years. In 2006, the Franco-Iranian journalist was awarded the prestigious Albert-Londres Prize. In 2009, she was appointed Middle East correspondent for Le Figaro. Minoui is also the author of several books, including Je vous écris de Téhéran (Seuil, 2015), Les Passeurs de livres de Daraya (Seuil, 2017), and L’Alphabet du silence (L’Iconoclaste, 2023).
In Badjens (Seuil, 2024) – meaning “Bad Seed” in Persian – Minoui steps into the shoes of one of the young female protesters who took to the streets following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in Tehran for wearing an improperly adjusted hijab. The journalist explores the courageous and risky decision made by these young Iranian women to remove their hijabs in the face of militia gunfire. Why did these young women choose to defy the regime, even though the law now considers not wearing the hijab as “nudity”? Minoui reflects on this act of rebellion against the Islamic Republic’s oppressive laws.
In French.
