Actress faces 90 lashes and one-year jail term for acting in anti-Iranian film

By Yoon Ye-seul

An Iranian actress has been sentenced to jail and 90 lashes because she appeared in an Australian film which has allegedly upset the oppressive social atmosphere of Iran.

Actress Marzieh Vafamehr was arrested in July and sentenced for her starring role in the film “My Tehran for Sale,” reported the Iranian opposition website (www.kalameh.com) on Monday.

The movie was directed by Iranian-Australian Granaz Moussavi in 2008. The film shows a story of a young actress who has been forbidden from acting by the Iranian government. It focuses on ''Marzieh,'' an actress struggling under her country's controls over artistic expression. The government has banned her work and romance with an Iranian-Australian expatriate. “Vafamehr often appears with a shaved head and no headscarf in the film, which also explores cultural oppression in Iran and taboos such as drug use,” said the website.

The film has never been officially screened in Iran but had its Australian debut at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2009. Its international debut was at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the film director toured the film around the country last year as part of the Human Rights Arts and Film Festival.

Human Rights Film Festival director Matt Benetti said news of Vafamehr's arrest was a shock. ''It just hits home much more,'' he said. ''Iran in particular seems to censor a lot of the artworks of political nature and I just think it's really important it gets out.''

In the meantime, a lawyer for Vafamehr has appealed against the ruling.