Feminist Outrage Fills the Nightly News Over Iran's Persecuted Actress

She has been dubbed Iran's Paris Hilton after appearing in a sex video on the internet.

But while Paris's exploits propelled her to worldwide stardom, Zahra Amir Ebrahimi faces ruin, a public lashing and even a jail term.

Ebrahimi is one of the best-known actresses in the strict Islamic country and made the 20-minute sex tape privately with her boyfriend on a camcorder at the flat they shared two years ago.

Unbeknown to her, it was posted on the internet and widely released as a DVD - angering millions in Iran.

Her boyfriend, who has not been named by the authorities in Tehran, is suspected of distributing the material illegally.

He has fled to Dubai and if caught and returned, faces three years in jail and a £6,000 fine for offending public morality.

Now 25-year-old Ebrahimi faces the disgrace of a court case, has been dropped from the top-rated soap where she played a morally upstanding young woman, and has been forced to deny rumours she attempted suicide.

Anyone who paid attention to the National Newscasts this weekend heard the outrage. In fact, American sexually-liberated women are uniting, via a petition drive at the National Organization for Women. Please go there and register and let Iran know that it is not OK to fire, flog or otherwise humiliate a woman simply for enjoying premarital sex. This is the 21st Century. Islam, the religion of tolerance and peace, does not stand for subjugating women. It stands for liberation. Iran must demonstrate Islam's fairness and respect for women. The solution is clear: Modern Feminists love burqas. Put her in one so she can know freedom.