World

Iranian porn actors could face death

Police in Iran are increasing their focus on ‘moral corruption’
By Michael Petrou

Iranian porn actors could face deathPolice in Iran have arrested a group of “beautiful young women” and charged them with making pornographic films—a crime that carries the death penalty in that country—according to the pro-reform Iranian website Fararu.

The website cited a source in the office of an Iranian law enforcement agency who said the arrested actors have already produced several amateur films for sale on the black market. The directors of the films were also reportedly arrested. It is not known how many actors and directors have been jailed.

Iran’s growing pornography industry caused MPs to pass legislation in 2007 approving the execution of those caught making pornographic films. The bill states that anyone charged with producing pornography may be sentenced as “corrupters of the world”—a phrase lifted from the Quran which refers to those who deserve the death penalty.

Iran’s Islamic laws place severe restrictions on political and sexual freedom. For instance, a medical mannequin in a Tehran pharmacist’s window has a cloth obscuring its genitals. Women are forced to cover their heads. And alcohol is forbidden. But many Iranians, especially those who are young, urban, and middle class, have a more liberal outlook than their country’s ruling politicians. Away from the prying eyes of the state’s religious enforcers, the headscarves come off. Alcohol is offered to guests. And satellite dishes broadcast music videos—and pornography—into living rooms.

These young Iranians, who have no memory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and little interest in its legacy, are increasingly being viewed as a threat by conservatives in the government, who are cracking down on “un-Islamic” dress, and now pornography.