Los Angeles: Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was already facing a one-year prison sentence, has now been sentenced to five years and one month in a separate ruling by a Tehran Revolutionary Court.
Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, told Emtedad News Agency that the court had sentenced his client in absentia to five years and one month in prison. However, the implementation of both rulings is discretionary. The court also ordered the confiscation of Panahi’s assets and imposed a two-year ban on social media use and a two-year travel ban, according to Variety.
Panahi’s lawyer said his client’s bank accounts were suddenly frozen last week, prompting them to visit the prosecutor’s office in Tehran, where they learnt that the verdict had been issued in absentia.
Over the past two decades, Panahi has had frequent run-ins with the Iranian authorities, according to Variety.
In 2010, the revered auteur, known globally for other prize-winning works such as ‘The Circle’, ‘Offside’, ‘This Is Not a Film’, ‘Taxi’ and ‘No Bears’, was banned from making films, speaking to the press and travelling, though he continued making films despite the restrictions.
In 2022, Panahi was arrested in connection with protests involving a group of filmmakers but was released about seven months later.
The restrictions were lifted in April 2023. Iranian authorities later allowed Panahi to travel to Cannes to launch ‘It Was Just an Accident’. He subsequently travelled widely to promote the drama, which centres on a group of former prisoners confronting a guard who tortured them and draws on his experience of incarceration.
However, he returned to Iran despite facing a one-year prison sentence in his home country and amid escalating tensions that made his return risky.