CAIRO, EGYPT – Iran has sentenced acclaimed filmmaker Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and imposed a two-year travel ban, according to his lawyer, Mostafa Nili. The court convicted Panahi on charges of “propaganda activities against the system.” Nili said he plans to appeal the ruling.
The sentence was announced while Panahi was in New York City attending the Gotham Awards, where he received three honors for his latest film, It Was Just an Accident. The movie, which also won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in September, was filmed secretly in Iran following Panahi’s seven-month imprisonment, which ended in 2023 after he staged a hunger strike. The director drew inspiration from stories told by fellow prisoners for the revenge-driven plot, in which former inmates attempt to identify a potential torturer despite having been blindfolded during their captivity. France has selected the film as its submission for the Academy Awards. Panahi did not comment on the sentence, and it is unclear if he plans to return to Iran.
Panahi is one of Iran’s most celebrated contemporary directors, known for continuing to create films despite repeated imprisonments, travel bans, and periods of house arrest over the past two decades.