Iran has sentenced filmmaker Jafar Panahi to one year imprisonment over alleged propaganda against the country's Islamic regime, revealed his lawyer.
Panahi, who was handed the sentence in absentia, is also facing a two-year travel ban.
"Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court has, in absentia, sentenced Mr. Panahi to one year in prison, two years of a travel ban, and a ban on membership in political and social groups, on the charge of propaganda against the regime," Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said in a statement on X. The lawyer said he will appeal the verdict.
This comes as Panahi's latest feature, It Was Just An Accident, is being touted as a frontrunner for major awards, including the Oscars. The film was in September picked by France as its submission for the Academy Awards in international feature category. He had earlier won Cannes Palme d'Or for the film.
It Was Just An Accident was shot secretly in Iran without permission from the government and apparently flouted the regime's strick hijab rules. He was arrested several times by the Iranian authorities in the past two decades. The last time he got imprisoned was in 2023 and was released seven months later after he went on hunger strike.
He began shooting for the film after his release. Stories of fellow prisoners found space in his revenge drama. The plot of It Was Just An Accident revolves around a group of former convicts who end up finding the man they think could have been torturing in prison. However, they are not sure as they were blindfolded while in jail.