LOAD.- He film-maker Iran Mohammad Rasoulof, whose latest film will be screened this month at the Cannes Film Festival, was sentenced by the Islamic Republic’s justice system to five years in prison. crcel for collusion against national security, his lawyer reported.
The verdict also determines penalties of whipping, fine and confiscation of the director’s assets, said lawyer Babak Paknia, on the social network X.
The official Iranian media have not reported any information about this sentence so far.
Filmmaker’s struggle
Babak Paknia specified that the sentence was eight years in prison, five of them effective, against Rasoulof, who in 2020 won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival with his film against capital punishment. The lives of others.
Rasoulof, 52, was arrested in July 2022 for having supported the demonstrations that broke out in Irn after the collapse of a building in which more than 40 people died in the southwest of the country.
On that occasion, a group of Iranian filmmakers brought together by Rasoulof asked in an open letter that the security forces lay down their arms in the face of popular indignation against the corruption and incompetence of the leaders.
The authorities released him at the end of 2023, after the anti-government protests that began in September 2022 gradually died down.
his movie The Seed of the Sacred Fig It was selected in the official competition of the Cannes festival, which will open on May 14 in that city on the French Mediterranean.
Pressures
Paknia, his lawyer, reported on April 30 that Iranian authorities had questioned members of the film crew and actors in his latest film.
The lawyer also denounced the pressure received to withdraw the film from the Cannes festival.
In a message on the social network X, he specified that some performers had been prohibited from leaving the country.
Paknia had said that he did not know if Rasoulof would be able to leave Iran to attend the French festival.
Going to the Cannes Film Festival has become increasingly difficult for Iranian directors and actors in recent years.
Director Saeed Roustaee, for example, was sentenced to six months in prison for screening his film Leila’s Family (Leila’s Brothersin English) in the 2022 edition.
Authorities in the Islamic Republic alleged at the time that the film had been screened without authorization.
Its protagonist, Taraneh Alidoosti, was released in early 2023 after spending almost three weeks in prison for her support of the protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in September 2022.
Amini was arrested for alleged non-compliance with the country’s strict dress code for women.
Iran has long had a thriving film scene and has won awards around the world, with figures such as Jafar Panahi and Asghar Farhadi.
FUENTE: AFP
