Iranian court sentences filmmaker Jafar Panahi to five years and one month in prison
publishers 20articles 20first reported 28 Oct, 03:15 UTCdeveloping since 28 Oct · 5 editions
A Tehran Revolutionary Court has sentenced Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi to five years and one month in prison and ordered the confiscation of his assets, according to his lawyer, Mostafa Nili.
Nili said the ruling was issued in absentia and that Panahi had not been notified of the hearing. The court also barred the director from international travel and social media activity for two years. The charges in the latest case have not been publicly clarified.
Panahi and his lawyer learned of the verdict after the filmmaker’s bank accounts were frozen last week, prompting them to visit an enforcement office at Tehran’s Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office. Nili said Panahi now has three open legal cases. The implementation of his prison sentences remains discretionary, and Panahi had not been detained as of Monday evening, according to a friend who spoke to the Associated Press.
The new ruling is separate from a one-year prison sentence for “propaganda activities against the system.” Panahi returned to Iran in March after traveling abroad to promote *It Was Just an Accident*, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Panahi has faced repeated arrests and restrictions during his career. He was detained in July 2022 and released about seven months later. Despite earlier bans on filmmaking, interviews and travel, he continued directing films including *This Is Not a Film*, *Taxi* and *No Bears*.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 4 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 4 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 12 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
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- This version written
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- Second model (editor)
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