Iranian Court Sentences Palme d'Or-Winning Director Jafar Panahi to Prison

Renowned Iranian film director and Palme d'Or winner Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to prison once again by an Iranian court.

Mostafa Nali, the attorney for Director Jafar Panahi, stated that the Tehran Revolutionary Court recently sentenced Panahi to 5 years and 1 month in prison in an in absentia trial.

The court reportedly also ordered the confiscation of Panahi's assets and banned him from leaving the country and using social media for two years.

Attorney Nali stated that after Panahi informed him last week that his bank accounts had been frozen, he inquired with the judiciary and confirmed that a guilty verdict had been handed down in absentia.

The specific charges applied in this ruling have not yet been disclosed.

Panahi is a master filmmaker who has swept top awards at the world's three major film festivals despite enduring continuous crackdowns by Iranian authorities, including censorship, arrest, house arrest, and travel bans.

Following the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for "The Circle" and the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015 for "Taxi", he won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year with "It Was Just an Accident".

He also received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Busan International Film Festival in September of last year.

However, in Iran, he was arrested and indicted on charges of anti-government activities and propaganda in 2010, receiving a 6-year prison sentence and a 20-year ban on filmmaking and travel. His sentence was later commuted to house arrest the following year, and he was imprisoned again in 2022 before being released on bail the following year.

He was also reportedly sentenced to one year in prison and a two-year travel ban in an in absentia trial last year on charges of anti-government propaganda.

At the time, the court reportedly recognized the secretly produced film "It Was Just an Accident" as key evidence for the charges.

Panahi, who was staying overseas in countries like the United States late last year for film promotions and film festival attendances, reportedly returned to Iran in early April of this year.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.