Iran frees director on hunger strike
Influential Iranian director Jafar Panahi was released from a prison in Tehran Friday, two days after going on a hunger strike.
Panahi was “temporarily released” from Iran’s notorious Evin Prison thanks to the work of his family, lawyers and fellow filmmakers, his wife, Tahereh Saidii, announced in an Instagram post.
His lawyer, Yusef Moulai, confirmed Panahi had been released on bail and returned home. He said the director was in good health, despite refusing to eat and drink for the past two days.
On Wednesday, a message shared on Saidii’s Instagram account and attributed to Panahi announced he would “refrain from eating and drinking any kind of food or medicine. I will remain in this situation so long that my lifeless body may be released from prison,” he said.
Panahi was arrested in July after going to the prosecutors’ office in Tehran to inquire about the arrest of “two of our dear colleagues,” fellow filmmakers Mohamad Rasoulof and Mostafa al-Ahmad.
He was later told by a judge he would have to serve an older sentence. In 2011 Panahii received a six-year prison sentence on charges of creating anti-government propaganda, but that was never enforced.
The 62-year-old filmmaker — whose feature film debut “The White Balloon” won the prestigious Caméra d’Or award at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival — has also received awards at the Locarno International Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, and the Berlin Film Festival.
His latest release, “No Bears,” was voted one of the top 10 films of 2022 by The Associated Press, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times.
Earlier last month, another prominent film star in Iran was released after being jailed for expressing support for anti-government protests.
Taraneh Alidoosti — an actress best known internationally for her role in “The Salesman,” the Asghar Farhadi-directed film that won the Academy Award for best foreign language film in 2016 — was arrested on Dec. 17 on charges of spreading falsehoods about the anti-government protests.
Alidoosti was detained days after she criticized the state for executing a man for crimes he had allegedly committed during demonstrations sparked by the death of an Iranian Kurdish woman in September.
Mahsa Amini, 22, died after she was arrested by Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s dress code. Her death sparked protests across Iran, which have been met with a “deadly crackdown,” according to Amnesty International.