IRAN — In a move that will likely delight the American extreme right wing, however secretly, Iran’s parliament has voted overwhelmingly to support a bill that could spell literal death for anyone convinced of working on an adult video in any capacity.Using the Quran phrase “corruptor of the world” to describe “producers of pornographic works and main elements of their work,” the 148-5 vote stated that, if convicted, such persons “could be sentenced to punishment” of the highest criminal order. Under the country’s Islamic Penal Code, that could include execution.
Among the “main elements” eligible for this punishment include “anyone cooperating in the realization of porn material in any roll,” up to but not limited to producers, directors, webmasters, performers, photographers, and camera techs involved in the creation of erotic video content. The parliament has defined pornography as being “any image showing the intimate parts of men and women or people filmed during a sexual act.”
The bill, which would dole out penalties ranging from one year in prison to death, still needs to be approved by the Guardian Council, which acts as a constitutional watchdog for the nation.
Erotic materials in print form are already illegal under Iranian law, and this bill would expand that censorship to include DVDs, CDs, websites, and any other electronic visual media.
The bill arrives a year after the nation’s moral leaders were rocked by scandal when a private recording featuring 25-year-old Iranian actress Zahra Amir Ebrahimi was distributed throughout Iran and eventually found its way onto the internet. The contents of the video supposedly showed the performer engaged in heterosexual intercourse. Ebrahimi is still under federal investigation and may receive anything from fines to whipping to worse if found guilty of violating the country’s morality laws. The identity of her lover has not been revealed, but he is believed to have escaped to Armenia only to have been returned to Iran and imprisoned.
“I watched the film after I heard about the fuss from colleagues, and the girl in it is not me,” Ebrahimi insists, suggesting that it might be a fake released by a former fiancé keen to do her personal and professional injury. “It is possible to use studio make-up to make a person look like me. I have some knowledge of montage techniques and I know you can create a new face by distorting the features of another person.”
Although illegal, erotic materials are available via foreign satellite television channels, and private bootleg VHS tapes, DVDs, and CDs can be found on the black market, none of which makes the ruling religious authorities happy.
