Iran sentences acclaimed director Jafar Panahi in absentia to a year in prison
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.99/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
CAIRO (AP) — Iran has sentenced acclaimed director Jafar Panahi to a year in prison in absentia, even as he received new awards for his latest movie.
The Tehran court also imposed a two-year ban on Panahi leaving Iran after convicting him on charges of “propaganda activities against the system,” his lawyer Mostafa Nili said in a post on X. Nili said he would appeal the ruling.
Word of the sentence came as Panahi was in New York City on Monday evening, receiving three awards at the annual Gotham Awards for his movie “It Was Just an Accident,” which also received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in September. Panahi did not comment on the sentence, and there was no immediate word if he planned to return to Iran.
Panahi is among the most celebrated of contemporary Iranian directors and has continued making movies despite repeatedly being imprisoned, banned from traveling and put under house arrest by Iranian authorities over the past 20 years. He filmed “It Was Just an Accident” clandestinely in Iran following a seven-month stint in prison that only ended in 2023 once he went on a hunger strike.
He has said he drew from stories of fellow prisoners for the film, a revenge drama in which a group of former prisoners find the man they think could have been their torturer in prison. But because they were blindfolded while jailed, they struggled to be sure.
France has selected the movie as its submission for the Academy Awards.