Iran actress sentenced to 90 lashes

A photo of Marzieh Vafamehr from her Facebook profile page

Actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to a year in jail and 90 lashes for her role in a film about the limits imposed on artists in the Islamic republic, an Iranian opposition website reported Sunday.

"A verdict has been issued for Marzieh Vafamehr, sentencing her to a year in jail and 90 lashes," Kalameh.com reported.

"Her lawyer has appealed the sentence, which was handed down yesterday (Saturday)," the report added, without giving further details.

Vafamehr was arrested in July after appearing in "My Tehran for Sale," which came under harsh criticism in conservative circles.

The film, produced in collaboration with Australia, tells the story of a young actress in Tehran whose theatre work is banned by the authorities. She is then forced to lead a secret life in order to express herself artistically.

The Fars news agency said the movie had not been approved for screening in Iran and was being distributed in the country illegally.

Vafamehr was released in late July after posting unspecified bail

Note : Another barbaric verdict of Iranian Mullas , The misinterpretation of Islam by bunch of Mullas and poor people are suffering under their cruel administration.

and to say that prior to the Irannian revolution or Islamic revolution of 1979 women in that country could walk around in mini skirts, no head covering, work and be truelly free. 

 There were head covering before the revulation too,  not as many as now but some. The problem is not head covering, the problem is that being free from barbaric rules. In a free democratic  country women can wear anything they wish to wear.

that is what I am saying tunci, prior to the revolution those women had the CHOICE, they could chose to dress the way they wanted now they have to obey laws that tell them what to wear, what to say and what to do

It is not only women..........There are always rules. There is no escape from rules. Even if one lives as a savage in the jungle, there are rules. Nobody can do what they want, unless it fits into the current rules where they are. We now see demonstrations all over the world against rules. 

But it is the women that bear the brunt of it.  Do you see men being procecuted for having an affair?  Do you see the men get proscecuted for rape?  The only thing men get killed for in Iran is for being gay.

Why should an actress be lashed 90 times for a role she played in a movie??

If the reason is that she played a role in a movie that was not approved by the Iranian government then by those standards Demi Moor should be haged for playing a role of a stipper in striptease and Julia Roberts should be lashed for playing the role of a call girl in Pretty woman oh and Marilyn Monroe should also be lashed because we saw her panties when she stood over the metro vent that lifted her skirt.

The islamic revolution of 79 stripped these women of almost all their rights they had gained prior to 79 and the following regime stripped them of their basic human rights afterwards.

To me that does not represent a forward thinking government.  So any government that, in my eyes remove the choices a woman can make is not very, how can I say, modern or respectfull or just and the men that follow those types of government are no better.

A woman can and should be able to decide for herself on what she wants or does not want to do.  If she wants to play the role of what ever in a movie she should be able to without fearing for her life.  I woman should be able to drive a car or leave her home unescorted by a man without fearing to be reprimanded by the "moral police".  She should be able to dress how she pleases and wear makeup without having a man judge her as a woman of ill repute. 

A woman is a human being at the same level as a man.  She is probably even better and stronger than a man because if a man is reduced to a weak infant with a simple little flu or cold then he would shoot himself during the pain of child birth.

One last thing, what about the man who was in the movie with Marzieh Vafamehr, why was he not also condemed to being lashed?  If she has to be lashed by law then he should also be lashed, fair is only fair, don´t you think?

If someone is interested in the old human civilization of Iran and what happened to it, I recommend Kader Abdolah´s novel

         Het huis van de moskee (The House of the Mosque) 2005

a novel that was first published in Dutch but has probably been translated into many languages by now.

We, (you and I) aren´t there to be witnesses to what is actually going on. Instead we get carefully filtered news. It is popular to advertise the opression of women as a rallying point for the West. The reality of the situation is different, and exactly what it is, we don´t know.

We do know the people in Iran are unhappy and are attempting to revolt. 

and I have heard women from Iran who lived through the revolution and left Iran

yes, and I know men who left too......things are bad all over

Are these instances part of a crack down because of the recent uprisings in Iran...or has it always been like this?  We have heard so little of what goes on inside Iran since the Revolution but it seems lately (every week practically) there is a new trial going on that sparks curiosity in the rest of the world. 

There is no doubt that there are tousands of witnesses about whats happening in Iran that fled outside Iran ,living all around the world. And there is no doubt that majority of Iranians are not happy with the way they are administrated.

In Islam there are rules to obey. But it is up to person whether to obey them or not. Only God knows the hearts and only Him [Allah] knows who will go to heaven ,who will not.

The state shouldnt say " Look , this is how I interpret your religion " obey this  otherwise you are all potential criminals in our eyes " 

Not only in Iran, Saudi Arabia and some other countries are in wrongdoings as well.

The crack down was brutal....from all accounts, really brutal. I remember the tragic death of Neda. Who really knows what is going on? The whole world is in turmoil now. I wish some of those @!#$% financial wizzards who caused the world wide economic problem would be punished and made to pay it all back. 

It´s a disgrace and they shouldn´t be allowed to enjoy the spoils of their theft while the rest of us suffer. How many deaths have happened from it? How many could not afford medical treatment or who knows what else that led to suffering?

When economy is good, everything goes much better. When people are stressed about where they will live, how they will afford to live all sorts of things come to the surface....and it´s not pretty. Most problems are caused by asset controls. As long as people have something to loose, things are east to control. When people think there is nothing to loose, things get dangerous. It looks like we are entering that time now. 

We have too many problems at home to be looking at other people´s yards to "solve" their problems. For me, I´m concerned with what is going on in my yard. 

As do many of us....then there was Mossadegh....do you know about that? ....or about the British/US intervention that so changed events in the area?

Well, for some reason my link did (even after numerous attempts) not work, so if you are curious, do some research. 

Things are not always what they seem. 

Just FYI...your link works fine.  Not sure why you are having a problem.  

The one there now does work, but I had another one that did not work. I just removed it in the end. It was about the 1953 Iranian coup e´etat...