Panahi, 62, is one of the most awarded Iranian filmmakers: he has received the screenplay award at Cannes in 2018 for “Three Faces”, three years after the Golden Bear for “Taxi in Tehran”.
The dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi, which was awarded the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015, was arrested today at Iran, Iran’s Mehr news agency reported.
Panahi, 62, is one of the most awarded Iranian filmmakers: he has received the screenplay award at Cannes in 2018 for “Three Faces”, three years after the Golden Bear for “Taxi in Tehran”.
A dissident artist, he was sentenced in 2010 to six years in prison and a 20-year ban on directing or writing films, traveling or speaking to the media, on charges of “anti-regime propaganda” for supporting the 2009 protest movement against the re-election of the ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidency of the Islamic Republic.
However, he continued to live and work in Iran.
“Jafar Panahi was arrested today (Monday) upon his arrival at the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office to attend the case of another director, Mohammad Rasulov“, who has been detained since Friday, Mehr reported.
Rasulov and his colleague Mostafa Aleamad were arrested by the authorities for “disturbance of public order”. They were accused of encouraging protests after a building collapse that killed 43 in May in the country’s southwest, according to the official Irna news agency.
“There is still no information about the reasons for Panakhi’s arrest, his connection to the Rasulov case or other persons arrested last week,” Mehr clarified.
Lately the Iranian authorities have made several arrests including Mostafa Tajadeh, a figure of the reformist movement, who was arrested on Friday and accused of “activities against the security of the state”.
Led by Rasulov, a group of Iranian filmmakers including Panahi published an open letter in late May calling on security forces to “lay down their arms” in the face of outrage over the “corruption” and “incompetence” of those responsible for the collapse. of the building.
Organizers of the Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale), which awarded Rasulov its highest honor in 2020, protested last week against the arrest of the filmmaker and Allemad, calling for the release of the two artists.
View the news feed and get the latest news.
I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in covering health news. I am also an author at News Bulletin 247. I am highly experienced and knowledgeable in this field. I am a hard worker and always deliver quality work. I am a reliable source of information and always provide accurate information.
