Judge refuses to restrain ‘Lizard’

An effort to block U.S. distribution of an Iranian film that mocks that country’s ruling clerics has been turned aside.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dzintra Jamavs on Tuesday declined to issue a temporary restraining order against “The Lizard,” whose director, Manuchehr Mohammadi, has made a deal to release the film through Atlantis Enterprises.

Kamal Mosafaye Tabrizi, the film’s distributor in Iran, had sought the restraining order on grounds that any distribution deal outside Iran requires its approval as well as the filmmaker’s.

“The Lizard,” about a thief who poses as a mullah, was a major hit in Iran but was abruptly pulled from theaters after objections from Iran’s religious establishment.