Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who received the Golden Bear for best film at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, was arrested in Iran on Monday, Iranian news agency Mehr reported. Aged 62, Mr. Panahi is one of the most awarded Iranian filmmakers; three years after the Golden Bear for Taxi Tehran, he had received the screenplay prize at Cannes in 2018 for Three Faces.
A dissident artist, he was sentenced in 2010 to six years in prison and a twenty-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.
Arrest of dissident filmmakers
“Jafar Panahi was arrested today [lundi] upon his arrival at the Tehran prosecutor’s office to follow up on the case of another director, Mohammad Rasoulof”, detained since Friday, Mehr said. Mr. Rasoulof and his colleague Mostafa Aleahmad had been arrested by the authorities for “disturbing 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.
“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. In recent times, the Iranian authorities have carried out numerous arrests, including that of a figure of the reform movement, Mostafa Tajzadeh, detained on Friday and accused of“activities against state security”.
Led by Mr. Rasoulof, a group of Iranian filmmakers that includes Mr. Panahi published an open letter in late May calling on the security forces “to lay down arms” using the hashtag #putyourgundown in the face of anger against « la corruption » et “incompetence” officials, after the tragedy of the collapse of the building.
The organizers of the Berlinale film festival, which awarded Mr. Rasoulof the highest distinction in 2020, protested last week against the arrest of the filmmaker and Mr. Aleahmad and demanded the release of the two artists.