(Paris) Renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi was released on bail on Friday after going on a hunger strike to protest his nearly seven-month detention in Iran, an NGO and relatives said.
Jafar Panahi, 62, whose films have won awards at European film festivals, was arrested on July 11 before the start of the protest movement in Iran in September. He was to serve a six-year prison sentence handed down in 2010 for “propaganda against the system”.
He was released “two days after going on a hunger strike,” the New York-based NGO Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter.
The Iranian Reform Newspaper Shargh confirmed his release “on bail” and published a photo of the filmmaker hugging one of his supporters on his release from Evin prison in Tehran.
His wife Tahereh Saeedi posted a photo on Instagram of him being transported from prison in a vehicle.
“Mr. Panahi was temporarily released from Evin prison thanks to the efforts of his family, lawyers and film representatives,” the House of Cinema, which brings together industry professionals in France, said in a statement. Iran.
In a statement released by his wife on Thursday, the director announced that he had started a hunger strike on 1er February to protest against his conditions of detention.
“I will remain in this state until, perhaps, my lifeless body is released from prison,” he said.
“Immense relief”
“It is with great relief that we learn of the release today of filmmaker Jafar Panahi. We do not forget all those who, in Iran and throughout the world, suffer violence and repression […] “, indicated Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival.
On October 15, Iran’s Supreme Court overturned Panahi’s 2010 conviction and ordered a new trial, raising hopes that he could be released immediately, but he remained in jail.
Jafar Panahi won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for his film “Le Cercle”. In 2015, he was awarded a Golden Bear in Berlin for “Taxi Tehran” and, in 2018, he won the Best Screenplay Award for “Three Faces” at the Cannes Film Festival.
Jafar Panahi’s latest film, “No Bear”, which, like most of his recent works, puts him directly on stage, was screened in 2022 at the Venice Film Festival when he was already imprisoned. He had won the special jury prize.
“It’s extraordinary, a relief, a total joy,” French producer Michèle Halberstadt, who distributes her films, told AFP. “His next fight is to have his sentence officially cancelled. He’s outside, he’s free, it’s already great. »
Repression
Panahi’s arrest in July came after he attended a court hearing for fellow director Mohammad Rasoulof, who was arrested days earlier.
Mr Rasoulof was released on January 7 after being granted a two-week furlough for health reasons and may still be out of prison.
Movie personalities are among thousands arrested by authorities during a crackdown on protests sparked by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after she was arrested by morality police who accused her of breaking the code strict dress for women in Iran, including the compulsory wearing of the veil in public.
Star actress Taraneh Alidoosti, who posted images of herself without a veil, was released in early January after nearly three weeks in detention.
According to Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR), security forces have killed at least 488 people during the crackdown on protests since September 16.