Iranian actress spared 90 lashes over film role

An Iranian actress sentenced to 90 lashes and a year in prison for her role in a film that is critical of Iran's hardline policies has been released

An Iranian actress sentenced to 90 lashes and a year in prison for her role in a film that is critical of Iran's hardline policies has been released.

Marzieh Vafamehr was arrested in July after illegal copies of the 2009 film My Tehran for Sale made their way into Iran where it is banned for criticising the hardline regime's policies.

The film was premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival with the 38 year-old playing the role of a young woman whose work as an actress is outlawed by the authorities.

Today Cyan Films, who produced the film, and Amnesty International released a statement saying Vafamehr had been freed and the ruling that she should be lashed 90 times overturned.

'As filmmakers we believe in freedom of speech and support all artists who are imprisoned and punished in Iran for expressing themselves through their art,' say producers Kate Croser and Julie Ryan from Cyan Films.

'We admire their courage and the contribution they make to sharing with the world their truth about life for Iranian people.'

Earlier this year a student was lashed 74 times for insulting president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Peyman Aref was whipped in front of his family with pictures circulating after he was released from prison showing his back covered in bloody wounds.

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