Acclaimed film director Jafar Panahi sentenced to six years in Iran

2010-12-22 06:30:24 GMT+7 (ICT)

TEHRAN, IRAN (BNO NEWS) -- Acclaimed film director Jafar Panahi was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday for inciting opposition protests and filming a movie without permission, Ary News Television reported.

Panahi, who is a supporter of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, was also banned from making movies or traveling abroad for a 20-year term. He was arrested last March and was held for 88 days.

"Panahi has been sentenced to six years in jail for acting and propaganda against the system," the film director's lawyer, Farideh Gheyrat, said. "He has also been banned from making films, writing any kind of scripts, traveling abroad and talking to local and foreign media for 20 years."

The film director was accused of making a film without permission and inciting opposition protests after the 2009 election that led to months of political turmoil. Panahi said that the case against him was an injustice and called one of the charges against him "a joke."

Panahi, who is the winner of many international awards, said he began directing his latest film after his house was raided and his film collection was labeled as 'obscene' and was seized. In September, Iranian authorities prevented him from attending the Venice Film Festival.

Panahi won the Camera d'Or prize in Cannes for his 1995 film "The White Balloon" and five years later took the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice festival with "The Circle".

The director will appeal the sentence. He was initially arrested along with his wife and daughter but his relatives were later released and Panahi was taken to Evin prison in Tehran. He was arrested for allegedly planning to direct a film about the 2009 protests.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-12-22

Why would anyone protest against the compassionate and democratic Iranian Government? The dastardly USA must have tricked him into it somehow.

20 years ban on working and traveling too...how nice of them...