IRAN FILMMAKER PANAHI COULD SERVE 6-YEAR SENTENCE

The legal authorities declared on Tuesday that Jafar Panahi, an accomplished dissident Iranian filmmaker who was detained last week in Tehran, would now have to fulfill a six-year sentence that was first given to him in 2010.

Panahi, 62, has garnered a number of accolades at international film festivals for his films that examine modern Iran, including the grand prize at Berlin in 2015 for "Taxi" and the best screenplay award at Cannes in 2018 for "Three Faces." Along with Mostafa Aleahmad and Mohammad Rasoulof, he is the third director to be jailed this month. His film "There Is No Evil" received the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2020.

According to judiciary spokesman Massoud Setayeshi, "Panahi had been convicted in 2010 to a total of six years in prison... and he was consequently entered into the Evin detention center to fulfill his sentence there."

He was detained in 2010 as a result of his backing for anti-government protests. He was found guilty of "propaganda against the regime," given a six-year prison term, barred from producing or authoring motion pictures, and prevented from leaving the nation.

However, he was only incarcerated for two months in 2010 and was later granted conditional parole that might be revoked at any time. On July 11, after visiting the prosecutor's office to inquire about Rasoulof's situation, Panahi was once more taken into custody.

The arrests follow Panahi and Rasoulof's open letter protesting the arrests of several of their colleagues in their country in May. Iran's film industry is growing despite political pressure, and its films frequently take home top honors at prestigious international film festivals.

Condemnation of Panahi's arrest has come from several filmmakers. The arrests and "the wave of repression plainly under way in Iran against its artists," according to the Cannes film festival organizers, are both things they "strongly condemn."

The Berlin film festival expressed "dismay and anger" at the arrest, while the Venice film festival demanded the "immediate release" of the directors. The "arbitrary" detention of the filmmakers drew concern from France's foreign ministry on Friday, which noted a "worrying deterioration in the position of artists in Iran."

Several prominent individuals have been jailed in Iran in recent weeks, including reformist lawmaker Mostafa Tajzadeh, who was taken into custody on July 8.

According to Setayeshi on Tuesday, Tajzadeh is "now in Evin Pre-Trial Detention" and "his accusation is gathering and cooperation with the goal of acting against the country's security and propaganda against the system."

The lawmaker, who unsuccessfully ran for president last year, was detained in 2009 during demonstrations against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election. After being found guilty in 2010 on accusations of endangering national security and spreading propaganda against the government, Tajzadeh—who had long advocated for democracy and "structural changes" in the Islamic republic—was released in 2016 after serving his term.

He had been the deputy interior minister under reformist former president Mohammad Khatami from 1997 to 2005.