Acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahi, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for the anti-death penalty film ‘The Lives of Others’, has announced the start of a hunger strike after more than six months of incarceration in Evin Prison in Iran’s capital Tehran.
In a statement posted Wednesday by his wife, Tahereh Saeedi, on his Instagram profile, Panahi says he will not eat, drink or take medicine until he is released from prison, an action in protest of «the illegal and inhumane behavior» of Iran’s judicial and security apparatus.
The post, also shared on Panahi’s son’s profile, has received thousands of comments from the Iranian film community, including from actor, writer and director Hamid Farrokhnezhad or actress Laleh Eskandari.
«Despite the fact that my detention was illegal, the respected lawyers managed to violate the 1990 law by resuming the proceedings in the Supreme Court, the highest authority for court cases, on October 15, 2022 this year so that I can go to the same courtroom for a retrial,» the statement reads.
Director, screenwriter and producer Sadr Aamili called Thursday for Panahi’s release, as well as that of Mozhgan Ilanlu, a documentary filmmaker who was sentenced to ten years in prison and 74 lashes for publishing a photo of herself walking around Tehran without a veil in solidarity with anti-government protests following the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
Panahi, who received the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlinale for the film ‘Taxi Tehran’, went to Evin prison on July 11 to protest the detention of fellow filmmakers Mohamad Rasoulof and Mustafa al Ahmad.
Rasoulof — winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for the anti-death penalty film ‘The Lives of Others’ — and Al Ahmad were arrested for calling for restraint by Iranian authorities in quelling protests over the collapse of a building in the southern province of Khuzestan.
Panahi, director of ‘The White Balloon’ (1995), is being held in Evin prison after his 2010 prison sentence for participating in anti-government protests the previous year was revoked.
Twelve years ago, Justice decided to release him on bail of about $200,000 (about 196,000 euros), but prohibited him from continuing to make films, travel abroad or give interviews.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
