Iran has sentenced Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi to a year in prison and a travel ban in his absence over “propaganda activities” against the country.
His lawyer Mostafa Nili said the sentence included a two-year ban on leaving Iran and banning Panahi from membership of any political or social group, adding that they would file an appeal.
Nili said the allegations against the Iranian director involved involvement in “propaganda activities” against the state, but he did not elaborate. “Mr Panahi is currently out of Iran,” he said.
Panahi, 65, won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year for It Was Just an Accident, a film in which five former prisoners consider whether to take revenge on the man they believe to be their former jailer.
Last month, he was on a US tour of Los Angeles, New York and Telluride, Colorado to promote his latest Oscar-hopeful film.
The film has been selected by France as its official nomination for the Academy Awards, and is expected to make the shortlist for best international feature at the ceremony in March.
Panahi’s Cannes win was reported by Iranian media, which commemorated the award with her photo at the time.
He has won numerous awards at European film festivals and screened his first film The White Balloon at Cannes in 1995, winning Best First Feature.
In 2010, Panahi was banned from making films and leaving Iran after supporting mass anti-government protests the year before and making a series of films criticizing the situation in modern Iran.
Pleaded guilty to “propaganda against the system”, he was sentenced to six years in prison, but served only two months in prison before being released on bail.
A year after serving a 20-year ban on film production, he sent a documentary titled ‘This is Not a Film’ to the Cannes Festival on a flash drive hidden in a cake.
His 2015 film Taxi was shot entirely in a car and featured Panahi playing a taxi driver.
In 2022, he was arrested in connection with a protest by a group of filmmakers, but was released after about seven months.
Iranian filmmakers, prominent media figures, and celebrities are closely monitored in Iran and their work is reviewed for content critical of Iran.
Last year, multi-award-winning director Mohammad Rasoulof fled Iran to avoid a prison sentence on charges of “collusion against national security.”
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