Iran TV chief sacked over uncensored Jackie Chan sex scene

Iran's state broadcaster, Irib, has sacked the head of a regional TV channel after it broadcast a Jackie Chan film without removing a sex scene.

A video posted online apparently by a viewer on Kish Island showed the Hong Kong martial arts star having sex with a woman in the film Shinjuku Incident.

Iranian media said the "immoral" scene was aired by Kish TV in "total violation of Irib's regulations".

Physical contact between men and women is not permitted on screen in Iran.

Censors are also said to be required to remove men and women exchanging "tender words or jokes", unveiled women, close-ups of women's faces and exposed necklines, as well as negative portrayals of police and bearded men.

The Tasnim news agency reported that the head of Irib, Aliasgari Ali Askari, had ordered an investigation into the incident and pledged "to seriously deal with the offenders and report them to the relevant authorities".

Some Iranians mocked the broadcaster's response on social media using the hashtag #Kish_channel in Persian.

Some noted that officials had so far avoided dismissal over the fatal bus crash that killed 10 students at Tehran's Islamic Azad University last week.

"Buses turn over, planes crash, ships sink... no-one is dismissed... A few seconds of Jackie Chan making love on Irib and immediately all staff in that section are sacked," wrote one person on Twitter .