Persons who could be executed include producers, directors, camerapersons,
managers and the actors themselves.
Following porn scandals, the ultra conversative Muslim nation compiled the
controversial bill, which also envisages convictions ranging from one year
imprisonment to a death sentence for the main distributors of the movies and
also producers of web content in which the pornography appears.
Besides videos, the bill covers all electronic visual material, such as DVDs
and CDs. Other material, such as porn magazines and books, are already banned
under Iranian law.
To become law, the bill requires an approval by the Guardian Council, a
constitutional watchdog in Iran.
It is widely believed that the drafting of the bill came about as a reaction to
a scandal last year, when a private videotape, apparently belonging to Iranian
actress Zahra Amir Ebrahimi and allegedly showing her having intercourse with a
man, became available across Iran.
The videotape was leaked to the Internet and released on a black market DVD,
becoming a full-blown Iranian sex tape scandal. Ebrahimi later came under an
official investigation, which is still ongoing. She faces fines, whip lashing
or worse for her violation of Iran's morality laws, CNN reported.
The unnamed man on the tape, who is suspected of releasing it, reportedly fled
to Armenia but was subsequently returned to Iran and charged with breach of
public morality laws and currently remains in jail.
In an exclusive interview with the British newspaper The Guardian earlier this
year, Ebrahimi denied she was the woman in the film and dismissed it as a fake,
made by a vengeful former boyfriend bent on destroying her career.
In recent years, private videotapes have increasingly been leaked to the public
in Iran, riling the government and many in this conservative country, where
open talk of sex is banned and considered taboo.
However, pornographic material is easily accessible through foreign satellite
television channels in Iran. Bootleg videotapes and CDs are also available on
the black market on many street corners and this legislation is set to tackle
the current illegal porn business currently flourishing in Iranian markets.
