By Freemuse

A spokesman from the British Asian tv station B4U TV said: "We played the video a couple of times and then did not play it again. We had threats which we were forced to take very seriously."
According to Deeyah, new death threats has forced her to hire extra security guards for her promotion trip to England scheduled in March, and to cancel planned concerts.
She told the British newspaper the Independent that she won't walk anywhere without bodyguards.

From burka to bikini
28-year-old US-based Deeyah is a Muslim pop singer born in Norway, and her new song "What Will It Be?" centres on women's rights and talks about the death threats she has received as well as her experiences of being spat at in the street by middle-aged men. The video for the song features her in one scene taking off a traditional burka to reveal just a bikini. It also features Irshad Manji, a Canada-based feminist Muslim writer, (author of 'The Trouble with Islam Today'), ripping off a strip of tape that covers her mouth. On Irshad Manji's official web site, she explains that she participated in the video because Deeyah represents "integrity and independence of thought."

Speaking up against violence
"My core message in this video is the right of a woman to choose her own path and express herself without the fear of violence or cultural excommunication," explains Deeyah in a message on Irshad Manji's web site.

"After years of being called a “whore,” “devil,” and “bringer of shame” by people who use Islam as their shield, I have decided to let this video speak for me.

In this video I have the faces of women who have been killed in the name of “honor,” and I have put their faces on my naked back. Both the nudity and the showing of these women are considered sins by the very people who perpetrated the hate crimes. I have found that the hypocrisy prevalent in our culture is too much to bear without speaking up. I am tired of the people who clamor at the slightest hint of skin on a Muslim woman but who will not speak up when a woman is beaten and even murdered in the name of Islam."

Deeyah filmed the video in the U.S. and in India where, she explains on her web site, she was chased around "the bumpy roads of Mumbai by a truck full of Muslim men who are angry at the [sight] of the sultry pop star being filmed."
Filming sites in Los Angeles had to be kept secret due to "more threats to Deeyah's safety," it is stated on her site.

"I would be lying if I said abuse from religious fanatics did not upset or scare me," says Deeyah. 

Muslim issue
According to Deeyah, media outlets have "succumbed to the intimidation of angry Muslims, and are low-balling a great tune."
In February 2006, the Muslim Council of Britain  questioned Deeyah’s claim to be a Muslim. Her real name is Deepika Thathaal - a Hindu name - and therefore they reckon her Muslim-rebel persona is just a publicity stunt.
"It’s quite amazing how the Muslim Council of Britain have been trying to attack anything they can to undermine Deeyah’s situation and message," said Deeyah’s UK-based manager in response to the alligations.
Deeyah’s father’s name before he changed it to Thathaal was Khalid Hussain. She intends to clarify the Council's claim once she arrives in the UK.

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