Iranian director Jafar Panahi released on bail after hunger strike

Panahi was arrested last July when he went to the Tehran prosecutor’s office to inquire about the arrests of two other Iranian filmmakers, and was held at the Evin Prison.

Panahi was ordered to serve six years on charges of propagandising against the government, a sentence dating back to 2011 that had never been enforced.
Reuters

Panahi was ordered to serve six years on charges of propagandising against the government, a sentence dating back to 2011 that had never been enforced.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi has been released on bail, two days after going on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment last summer.

Yusef Moulai, Panahi’s lawyer, confirmed he had been released on bail and returned home on Friday, adding that Panahi was in good health after two days without food. He declined to provide further information.

The semiofficial ISNA news agency said several artists had welcomed him as he departed the Evin Prison in the capital, Tehran.

Panahi had issued a statement earlier this week saying he would refuse food or medicine starting on Wednesday “in protest against the extra-legal and inhumane behaviour of the judicial and security apparatus.”

READ MORE: Award-winning Iran filmmaker summoned to prison – lawyer

Serving the earlier sentence

Panahi was arrested last July when he went to the Tehran prosecutor’s office to inquire about the arrests of two other Iranian filmmakers. 

He was later ordered to serve six years on charges of propagandising against the government, a sentence dating back to 2011 that had never been enforced.

Taraneh Alidoosti, the 38-year-old star of Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning 2016 film, “The Salesman,” was arrested in December after taking to social media to criticise the crackdown on protests. She was released three weeks later on bail.

READ MORE: Iran releases prominent actress Taraneh Alidoosti on bail

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