Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jafar Panahi's prison sentence upheld by Iranian Court

Los Angeles [US], June 7 (ANI): Amid a retrial for his “propaganda activity against the regime”, Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s one-year prison sentence has been upheld by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, as per Variety.

In December last year, Panahi was sentenced in absentia on charges of engaging in propaganda activities against the Iranian state.

According to Variety, Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, announced the court’s decision to reject the filmmaker’s appeal during a press briefing in Tehran. Moving forward, the sentence can now be appealed to the Tehran Provincial Court of Appeal within twenty days, the lawyer added.

Notably, the sentence came down on Jafar Panahi when he was busy with the promotion of his Cannes Palme d’Or-winning film. It also included a two-year ban on travelling and a ban on holding membership with political and social groups.

Panahi returned to Iran at the end of March, shortly after the 98th Academy Awards, where his film ‘It Was Just An Accident’ made it to the nomination stage as France’s candidate in the Best International Feature Film Category.

The filmmaker has long been in the crosshairs of the Iranian authorities.

Back in 2010, Panahi was banned from making films, speaking to the media and travelling.

In July 2022, he was arrested after visiting Tehran’s Evin prison to ask about filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, who had been detained earlier.

Soon after his arrest, Iranian authorities reactivated a six-year prison sentence first issued against him in 2010. At that time, Panahi was also given a 20-year ban on filmmaking and travel. The charges were linked to his support for protests following Iran’s 2009 Green Movement.

Panahi was released from prison in February 2023 after going on a hunger strike. Despite restrictions and legal challenges, he has continued making films that have received global recognition. (ANI)