Iran releases jailed actress.

Cartoon: by Pickering. Bob Brown is one of those who believe in limits on Freedom of Speech. The limits are on things like GW skepticism, adverse opinions towards him, the Greens, and government policy, and to a lesser degree, yelling fire in crowded theatres.

It has been announced Iranian authorities have released that actress Marzieh Vafamehr, who was arrested and sentenced to a year in jail and 90 lashes for her role in the film “My Tehran For Sale”. Authorities there banned the film, which was funded by the Adelaide Film Festival and South Australian Film Corporation.

Significantly, it is not a matter of rethinking the idea of punishing her that caused her release. It is merely that the sentence has been reduced to three months in jail by an appeal court, with the lashings overturned.

It seems that in the mind of the regime, jailing someone whose exercise of freedom of expression is seen by that regime as bringing that regime into disrepute, does not in itself bring the regime into disrepute.

Given that the government there is a theocracy, the following is perhaps relevant:

“Protect me from knowing what I don't need to know. Protect me from even knowing that there are things to know that I don't know. Protect me from knowing that I decided not to know about the things that I decided not to know about. Amen.” – Douglas Adams.