Jafar Panahi, on hunger strike

The acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi, known for films such as Taxi Tehran, The Circle or Three Faces, was arrested in July 2022 in his native country for attending protests over the arrest of filmmakers Mohamad Rasoulof and Mustafa al Ahmad.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
03 February 2023 Friday 09:36
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Jafar Panahi, on hunger strike

The acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi, known for films such as Taxi Tehran, The Circle or Three Faces, was arrested in July 2022 in his native country for attending protests over the arrest of filmmakers Mohamad Rasoulof and Mustafa al Ahmad. The filmmaker, who is in Evin prison, has started a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.

Tahereh Saeedi, Panahi's wife, recently revealed that he was likely to be released, but with his release not going through, the filmmaker has decided to go on a hunger strike. Saeedi and the director's son, Panah Panahi, have shared the artist's decision via Instagram.

"I firmly declare that, in protest against the illegal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and its hostage-taking, I have started a hunger strike since the morning of February 1. I will refuse to eat and drink any food and medicine until the time of my release. I will remain in this state until perhaps my lifeless body is released from prison," said the director who won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival and the Golden Bear at the Venice International Film Festival. of Berlin.

Shortly after his arrest in 2022, Iranian authorities decided to revive a six-year sentence originally imposed on Panahi in 2010, as well as a 20-year film and travel ban. The charges and sentence related to his attending the 2009 funeral of a student gunned down in the Green Revolution and his subsequent attempt to film a film set against the backdrop of the uprising. Panahi has not left Iran since then and has been detained on several occasions.

In October last year his lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, successfully argued in the Supreme Court that the six-year sentence had exceeded Iran's 10-year statute of limitations and was no longer applicable. He was then granted permission to request a new trial, a move that should have resulted in Panahi's automatic release on bail, but Iranian authorities have stymied the process so far.

"Although we have seen that less than thirty days elapse from the moment of arrest to the hanging of the innocent youth of our country, it has taken them more than one hundred days to transfer my case. The fact is that the violent and illegal conduct of the institution of security and the reckless surrender of the Judiciary once again evidence the implementation of selective laws. It is just an excuse for repression. Today, like many people trapped in Iran, I have no choice but to protest against these inhumane behaviors with my possession more dear, that is, my life", the director lamented in his text.