The Times
19 February, 2024 | By Larisa Brown
'New Schindler' creates list to help artists flee Taliban.
Mohsen Makhmalbaf has spent more than two years trying to help hundreds of Afghan artists escape the Taliban who have effectively criminalised creative expression.
He has been jailed in Iran and bombed in Afghanistan. But the Iranian dissident and filmmaker, who lives in Britain, does not fear death. What matters is how he uses the time he has left.
In August 2021 as British and American troops put on evacuation flights for Afghans as they withdrew from the country, Makhmalbaf drew up a list of 800 poets, dancers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists and others whose lives were at risk. He and his family were able to help 385 artists to safety and he is trying to help 300 more.
His efforts have earned him the reputation as the modern-day "Schindler", in reference to Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who sheltered some 1,100 Jews from the Nazis.
Makhmalbaf, 66, is originally from Tehran but has lived in London for over a decade. He and 13 MPs are appealing to the UK government to help rescue artists who remain in Afghanistan.
Makhmalbaf, whose efforts to save the artists are documented in a film The List, which will premiere in London this week, said those who remained were under constant threat. "Those who are still in Afghanistan have gone into hiding, some of them are in prison. I'm worried they will be arrested or tortured or even killed," he said.
One person he helped was an artist who the Taliban tried to catch, but as she tried to escape they killed her father. Another made a film about LGBT rights and was jailed. Footage from The List showed an artist whose eye appeared to have been pulled out.
In August 2021 Fawad Andarabi, a folk singer, was dragged from his home and shot in the head. "We are trying to touch the heart of the UK government. Maybe this film will persuade them to help," Makhmalbaf said.
Source: The Times Newspaper - 19 February, 2024 - NO 74335
