He returned to his country, a prison sentence was issued again: 5 years imprisonment requested for the famous director

NEWS CENTER / According to the Iran-based Emtedad News Agency, Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, who won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, was facing a one-year prison sentence, but was sentenced to five years and one month in prison by the Tehran Revolutionary Court with a separate decision.

According to his lawyer's statement, a prison sentence of five years and one month; It includes the confiscation of all assets, banning from social media activities for two years and a two-year ban on traveling abroad.

'THREE SEPARATE JUDICIAL PROCESSES CONTINUE'

Mostafa Nili, 66-year-old Panahi's lawyer, said that court documents claimed that the director was abroad and unreachable, but Panahi returned to Iran on March 30 and appeared before the court of investigation in August regarding another file.

According to his lawyer, Panahi is currently in Iran and three separate judicial processes are ongoing against him.

The latest decision followed the conviction in December 2025 for carrying out “propaganda activities against the regime”, which included a one-year prison sentence and a two-year international travel ban; The sentence in question was also approved after the appeal application.

HE WAS RELEASED WHEN HE STARTED A HUNGER STRIKE

Panahi won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year with his film It Was Just An Accident. He was sentenced in absentia by the Iranian Revolutionary Court to a one-year prison term and a two-year international travel ban at the end of 2025. The director returned to Iran at the end of March following the 98th Academy Awards ceremony, where It Was Just An Accident was nominated for Best International Feature Film.

Panahi was arrested shortly before filming It Was Just An Accident and was only released after he went on a hunger strike.

In 2022 and 2023, he spent 86 days in Iran's notorious Evin Prison on charges of anti-regime activity dating back to 2010 and his participation in protests against the arrest of his friend and colleague, director Mohammad Rasoulof.