Two days after going on a hunger strike to protest his six-year prison sentence by the Iranian regime, acclaimed director Jafar Panahi was released on bail on Friday (February 3rd), his supporters said.

The filmmaker, whose films have won awards at several European film festivals, was arrested on July 11, 2022, even before the start of the wave of protest actions that have shaken the Iranian regime since September.

The 62-year-old was sentenced to six years in prison in 2010 for “propaganda against the system” and was being held in Evin prison in Tehran, where fire and clashes sparked chaos in October 2022.

On October 15, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial, giving his lawyers hope for release.

In a statement released Thursday, February 2 by his wife, the director explained that he had started a hunger strike to protest against the conditions of his detention: “Today, like many people trapped in Iran, I have no other choice but to protest this inhumane behavior with what I hold most dear: my life. »

“I will refuse to eat and drink and take any medicine until I am released,” the filmmaker added, noting that he “will remain in this state until, perhaps, [his] lifeless body be released from prison.

Multi-award winning director

Jafar Panahi won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for his film Le Cercle. In 2015, he was awarded a Golden Bear in Berlin for Taxi Tehran and, in 2018, won Best Screenplay for Three Faces at the Cannes Film Festival. On Twitter, this film institution “reaffirms its full support for him by calling, like many artists, festivals and organizations around the world, for his immediate release”.

“This cry for freedom obliges us collectively”, underlined the ARP and the SRF, two collectives of French filmmakers. “We stand in solidarity with Iranians fighting for their rights, condemn this arrest and call for his release,” the Berlin International Film Festival wrote on Twitter.

Jafar Panahi’s latest film, No Bear, which, like most of his recent works, features him directly, was screened in 2022 at the Venice Film Festival when he was already imprisoned. The film won the Special Jury Prize.

His arrest in July 2022 came after he attended the court hearing of another director, Mohammad Rasoulof, arrested a few days earlier. The latter was released from prison on January 7 after being granted a two-week leave for health reasons.