Iran has sentenced acclaimed film-maker Jafar Panahi to one year in prison, alongside a two-year travel ban, after accusing him of engaging in “propaganda activities” against the state. His lawyer, Mostafa Nili, confirmed the verdict and said an appeal would be filed. Panahi, 65, is currently outside Iran.
The director won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year for ‘It Was Just an Accident’, a drama centred on five former inmates debating whether to seek revenge on a man they suspect was once their jailer. He recently toured the US to promote the film, which has been submitted by France for the best international feature category at the Oscars and is considered a strong contender for the shortlist.
Panahi is one of Iran’s most celebrated directors, having first appeared at Cannes in 1995 with ‘The White Balloon’. His career has long run up against state restrictions: in 2010 he received a six-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban on film-making for supporting anti-government protests.
Despite the ban, he continued to work, famously smuggling ‘This Is Not a Film’ to Cannes on a USB stick hidden inside a cake. His 2015 film ‘Taxi’, shot entirely inside a car, won international acclaim.
He was arrested again in 2022 amid protests involving several film-makers before being released nearly seven months later. Iranian directors and cultural figures remain under tight scrutiny, with recent years seeing multiple artists detained or forced to flee the country, including the award-winning film-maker Mohammad Rasoulof.
