I just wanted to point out that having received many comments, under a few different names, I think this is nothing more than one individual making all these accusations. I refer you to the comment posted on my blog under the name "GIJoe"
(http://kamangir.net/2008/02/10/the-problem-with-attractive-actresses/#co...)
Knowing that a controversial Iranian blogger (http://i.hoder.com/) posted the link to this post on his blog under the title "Farnaz Seifi and Arash Abadpour [that's me] serving the anti-Iran campaign of Nikolas Sarkozy", I believe many of the responses here are originating from the same source.

To the Editors,
Thanks for the update of Feb 15. However, I am afraid it does not go far enough.
The whole premise of your source is built on this agency blurring out photographs of beautiful women because the government does not want people to see them.
The argument fails on two fronts. First, the Agency clearly does show their faces and the authors were selective about the pictures they showed here. Secondly, these are actresses whose faces are all over movie screens all over the country. If the government did not want their faces to be seem, it would keep their movies from showing. Clearly that is not the case.
My advise to you is not to buy into whatever some shill feeds you. Think about what you are publishing. It does not make sense to have still pictures of actresses blurred when their faces are all over the movie theater.
Also, having a blog or being a "feminist" is not enough to consider someone an expert, observer or source. Your website is being used for people with an agenda without you knowing about it. I think you should remove this article altogether.
Better luck next time.

For a non blurred pictures of the same people who are supposedly blurred by FARS News see

Azita Hadjian
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295003.jpg
Ladan Mostofi
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295004.jpg
Naznin Mafkham
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295009.jpg
Niki Karimi
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295013.jpg

Same website, same event.

I think arresting women for not covering their heads is outrageous... and this kind of mentality is exported to the west as well, where islamists in western societies raise their sons to beleive that whatever woman is uncovered is a whore. I live in a western society in a western city, where actually 51% of the population is moslem. Being a western woman, I am sick and tired and very angry with constantly being harassed on the street by teenage moslem boys, who think they have a right to call me names because I am not wearing a headscarf. And it not only verbal harrassement: the other day I was passing through a neighborhood that is characteristically islamic - you see the women covered from head to toe - and a 14-15 yr old boy grabbed my private parts and blocked my way calling me names like whore and asking me how much it is, while his pals were laughing and jeering. I had to push them violently in order to run away, while shouting at some older men to come and dicipline the boys. No one moved and no one interfeered. There are different examples as well, for example men forbidding me to talk to their covered wives while we are shopping, and pulling their wife away from me. Whenever I mention my outrage with these incidencies, I get the reply 'well, you shouldn't go to their neighborhoods'. This is an appeal to everyone to start discussing this taboo issue of islamic morals harassing western women in western socities! We have to start talking about how much it bothers us, in order to get it to stop!

"Our observer in Iran" who "recently left the country" (!) says:

"Actresses wear a lot of make-up and colourful clothes. They're also usually quite beautiful, and the government doesn't want people to see this"

Yet they allow their movies to be played in every movie theater in the country, allows a film festival with their full participation and gives them awards.
Your lies are absurd. They are actresses for crying out loud. How can the government want people not to see them!? Get a real job. Whoever is paying you to write this drivel is getting ripped off. Does this site have an editorial policy or an editor who checks things for consistency? Apparently not.

I saw these pictures form the same FARS website. Someone please tell me which of these pictures are blurred:
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M294994.jpg
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295000.jpg
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295001.jpg
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295013.jpg
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295018.jpg
http://www.farsnews.com/plarg.php?nn=M295025.jpg

All actors. All beautiful women.
I think more than anything else the photographer had tried to be artistic.

Reactionary individuals on this thread have completely missed the point of the article! The mistake all you Marxists, leftists and Islamist (combined together you are all reactionary forces to progress, liberty and freedom) make is that you think Western society is flawless! A Western society, like any other society, has flaws but the question you must be asking yourself is what is getting done to address those flows. What I mean is that instead of focusing on mistakes and flaws of the Western societies try for a change to focus on the positive aspects and how Western societies deal with their problems. If you are not blind, deaf and stupid you will see that in the West there are far more opportunities and possibilities (for men and women) and if there are obstacles or issues there are organizations and institutions that have made it their job to constantly scrutinize the behavior of the state and how it treats its citizens and independent media in most cases report on state-citizen relations. Bottom line is, in the West issues get addressed and that is why minorities such as gays and lesbians are not rotting in prison now in the West and instead have rights like you. Of course no issue will ever get addressed 100% right away and that is why you see in the West there are still problems such as gender discrimination or discrimination against minorities such as gays and lesbians. However, the key point is that, in the West, institutions and organizations of civil society keep issues, such as discrimination against gays and lesbian, alive and by doing so they are able to expand the scope of possibilities for such groups over time!

In Iran the idea of an independent media outlet is a joke and both men and women have little access to independent organizations that would, on behalf of them, put pressure on the state. Lastly, your view of women resembles a view of a man from Stone Ages, therefore, I do not expect much from you. But I say this: the place of the woman is not in the kitchen primarily! The place of woman is where she likes it to be and you have little or no right to tell her where that place is!