Actress Beaten and Lashed in Iran for Appearing in the Film, "My Tehran For Sale"

My Tehran For Sale looks like a beautiful film, but unfortunately there is a sad story that comes out of it -- the real life story of the film's lead actress Marzieh Vafamehr.  After the film's completion, it found its way around the black market of Iran, and  Marzieh was sentenced by the Iranian government to 90 lashings and a year in jail for performing in this film.  It's an Australian-funded film, shot in Iran and produced by Australians Julie Ryan and Kate Croser and directed by an Iranian-Australian woman Granaz Moussavi.  

The producers have issued a statement:

We would like to express our deep shock and sadness at the sentence imposed by the Iranian government against actress Marzieh Vafamehr…And we continue to offer our support to Marzieh and her family by respecting their wishes to let the case and the appeal follow the proper legal channels.

The producers would like to emphasise that Marzieh’s involvement in the film was limited to her role as an actress and she was not in any other way involved in the behind-the-scenes filmmaking…The film was never intended to be distributed within Iran and its dissemination on the black market in Tehran had been totally outside their control.

I searched Google to find a petition for her and I found one here at Petition Online.  Sign it and spread to the word to help free this woman.

Source: Women and Hollywood