Several of those who had previously participated in peaceful political action have turned into these violent, ultraconservative groups after they had been arrested and sentenced to prison.

During the past two years, extreme positions taken by conservative members of parliament and hardline media, along with ultraconservative religious groups, have played a central role in preventing films from public viewing.

The case against 24 year old Parwez Kambakhsh, whose brother has angered Afghan warlords with his own writing, has come to symbolize Afghanistan's slide toward an ultraconservative view on religious and individual freedoms.

The Girl s House was only screened at the 2015 Fajr Film Festival, after which it came under intense attacks from ultraconservative religious circles, and the Tehran Municipality s cultural affairs division opposed its screening at cinemas under its management.