Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr was released from jail and spared 90 lashes for her role in the Australian film My Tehran for Sale, Amnesty International reported on its website.
Vafamehr was arrested in July after copies of the movie arrived in Iran. The film, made in 2009, is about an actress whose work is banned. In one scene, Vafamehr appears bare-headed, without a hijab headscarf, and in another she drinks alcohol, which is a violation of Iranian law and traditions.
The actress was released from jail on Monday after the Tehran Court of Appeals reduced her prison sentence from 12 to 3 months and reversed the lower court's decision to give her 90 lashes, according to Amnesty International.
Vafamehr is not the only member of the Iranian movie industry to run into trouble with the law.
In March 2010, Iranian film director Jafar Panahi was arrested for producing antigovernment propaganda and endangering state security. Panahi was released on bail in response to international pressure, but in December 2010, was sentenced to six years in prison and barred from making movies for 20 years, writing screenplays, giving interviews and leaving the country.
In mid-October, the Court of Appeals declined to amend Panahi's sentence.
