Iranian director Jafar Panahi released after hunger strike

Paris, France - Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, supporters said on Friday.

The director, a winner at all the big European film festivals, had been arrested months before the current anti-regime protests erupted. But his imprisonment became a symbol of the plight of artists speaking out against the authorities.

Panahi has been released from Tehran’s Evin prison ‘two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom’, the USbased Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter, while Iran’s reformist Shargh newspaper published an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter after being released on bail.

His wife Tahereh Saeedi posted a picture on Instagram of Panahi being driven from prison in a vehicle.

Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux expressed ‘great relief’ at the news of his release. “We do not forget all those, in Iran and around the world, who are subjected to violence and repression,” he told AFP. “The Cannes Film Festival will always remain alongside artists from all over the world in defence of freedom.”

Temporary release

The prize-winning director was arrested in July and went on a dry hunger strike on Wednesday to protest his continued detention.

“Mr Panahi was temporarily released from Evin prison with the efforts of his family, respected lawyers, and representatives of the cinema,” Iran’s House of Cinema, which groups together industry professionals, said in a statement.

The announcement that Panahi was going on a dry hunger strike had sparked a wave of concern across the world about the director.