Paris Hilton was plagued last year by the wide-spread internet distribution of a private video, as was Pamela Anderson more than 10 years ago. But while these actors (if you can call them actors) faced humiliation, the loss of privacy, and being the butt of numerous jokes, it’s nothing like what Sahra Amir Ebrahimi is facing in Iran.

Ebrahimi, a popular actor in that Islamic country, is hiding out in her home, fearing for her life, after a pornographic tape of her and a TV production assistant was leaked to the public. The tape has become one of the hottest selling items in Iran (more than 100,000 copies are believed to have been sold).

Though Ebrahimi, who regularily appears on the Irani soap “Narges,” is known for being risqué, she appears in public in the requisite headscarf and long coat of traditional Muslim dress. So, naturally, this tape has shocked the nation, especially the conservative mullahs in charge. Iran’s hard-line attorney general, Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi, is calling for death by stoning, saying the tape constitutes the illegal act of prostitution.

But the legitimacy of the tape is in question, as the production assistant claims to have been in a “temporary marriage” with the 25-year-old actress at the time. (A temporary marriage is a practice of the Shi’a sect of Islam in which two people get married for a short period of time, usually so they can be intimate)

The actress insists that it isn’t her in the tape, and is hiding out in her home. The nation is in an uproar, and I’m thinking it’s not going to die down soon. It’s probably difficult for Westerners to fathom how the alleged star of a sex tape could be subject to death threats–but Iran is a Muslim country, and the laws are strict regarding sex outside of marriage. I just hope the real truth is pursued before judgement is passed or rash decisions are made.