TEHRAN (JWN and agencies)—Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr was sentenced Monday to a year in prison and 90 lashes for appearing in a movie that the regime of Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad considered
to be too critical.

The Iranian opposition website Kalameh.com says she is appealing the harsh sentence. The film, My Tehran for Sale by Iranian-Australian director Granaz Moussavi, was shown at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2009, but is banned in Iran.

It depicts the story of a young actress whose stage work is banned by the authorities.