Jafar Panahi sentenced to five years and one month in Iran, lawyer says

Jafar Panahi has been sentenced in absentia to five years and one month in prison by the Tehran Revolutionary Court, his lawyer said on Tuesday. The reported account did not identify the charges behind the Iranian filmmaker’s latest conviction.

Lawyer Mostafa Nili said the court also ordered confiscation of Panahi’s movable and immovable property. It imposed separate two-year restrictions on foreign travel and social media activity, according to his account.

Nili said he learnt of the judgment after the director told him last week that his bank accounts had been frozen. The lawyer then visited the sentence enforcement office attached to the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office.

Latest ruling adds to pending cases

The lawyer said Panahi had three pending cases and had not been informed of the hearing date in this latest matter. He also said the director returned to Iran during the war with Israel and the United States that began on February 28; his current whereabouts remain unclear.

In June, a court rejected an appeal against a separate one-year prison term handed down in December on propaganda charges. The report does not explain the relationship between that conviction and the new sentence.

Jafar Panahi, 66, won the highest award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for It Was Just an Accident. The film follows five former prisoners considering revenge against someone they believe was their jailer.

His debut, The White Balloon, received the award for best first feature at Cannes in 1995. Subsequent work included the documentary This is Not a Film and Taxi, which was filmed entirely inside a car.

Panahi has previously faced restrictions and imprisonment. A 2010 ruling barred him from filmmaking for 20 years and from travelling abroad, while a 2022 arrest connected to filmmakers’ protests led to nearly seven months in custody.

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