Jafar Panahi, dissident filmmaker, was arrested on Monday July 11 in Iran “Jafar Panahi was arrested today (Monday) upon his arrival at the Tehran prosecutor’s office to follow up on the case of another director, Mohammad Rasoulof”detained since Friday July 8, announced Mehr. Aged 62, he is one of the most awarded Iranian filmmakers, Screenplay Prize at Cannes in 2018 with Three Facesthree years after the Golden Bear for Taxi Tehran in 2015.
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 expressing himself in the media, for “propaganda against the regime”, after supporting the 2009 protest movement against the re-election of ultra-conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President of the Islamic Republic. However, he continued to live and work in Iran.
In recent times, the Iranian authorities have carried out numerous arrests, including a figure of the reform movement Mostafa Tajzadeh, detained on Friday and accused of“activities against state security”.
Mohammad Rasoulof and his colleague Mostafa Aleahmad had been arrested by the authorities for “disturbance of public order”. They are accused of having encouraged demonstrations after the collapse of a building which killed 43 people in May in the south-west of the country, according to the official Irna agency.
Led by Mohammad Rasoulof, a group of Iranian filmmakers including Jafar Panahi published an open letter in late May calling on the security forces “to lay down arms” in the face of anger “Corruption” and “incompetence” officials, after the tragedy of the collapse of the building. But “there is still no information on the reason for Panahi’s arrest, his connection to the Rasoulof case or to other people arrested last week”said Mehr.
The organizers of the Berlinale film festival, which awarded Mohammad Rasoulof the highest distinction in 2020, protested last week against the arrest of the filmmaker and Mostafa Aleahmad, demanding the release of the two artists.