Iranian actress Sadaf Taherian has been banned from acting after she posted photographs of herself without her hijab on social-networking sites.

Facing public and political outrage, and termed ‘immoral’ in her homeland after posting the pictures on her Facebook and Instagram pages, the actress had aimed to protest against strict laws in Iran. However, she eventually fell prey to the law itself as Iran's ministry of culture reportedly vowed to cancel Taherian's work licence in a television broadcast, and condemned the actress’ photographs.

An Iranian law, passed in 1979, demands women in Iran to cover their hair in public.

Taherian’s photographs were criticised by Iraninan officials, with some even editing the pictures and Photoshopping a hijab on her head in the photographs.

The actress broke her silence on the issue while speaking on the show “Tablet,” aired on the Voice of America’s Persian language channel.

“I was nervous and worried about how people would react to my photos. I did not expect this from the people of Iran, from my own culture – to hear so many insults,” Yahoo news reported Taherian as saying.

“I can only feel sorry for their reaction and I have nothing else to say. When I wore the hijab on screen I did it for the love of my career and the demand of the film. I want to live in a place and live the way that makes me happy.”

Sadaf also said that she faced sexual harassment on several occasion while working as an actress.

“It bothered me when I was acting and the director was thinking about me in any way except acting. He was only waiting for the scene to finish so he could whisper in my ear again. They would put five or six contracts in front of me with only one condition: One month – to be with them,” she said while revealing the sorry state of women in Iran.

Following the cancellation of her work licence, the actress now aspires to build a fresh career in the same field in Dubai.

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