Award-winning director Jafar Panahi arrested in Iran, the 3rd filmmaker in days

Cannes Film Festival prizewinner detained while inquiring about arrested colleague, held for alleged incitement in wake of deadly building collapse

TEHRAN — Award-winning dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was arrested Monday, the third director to be detained in less than a week, the Mehr news agency said.

Panahi, 62, has won a slew of awards at international festivals for films that have critiqued modern Iran, including the top prize in Berlin for “Taxi” in 2015, and best screenplay at Cannes for his film “Three Faces” in 2018.

“Jafar Panahi has been arrested today when he went to the prosecutor’s office to follow up on the situation of another filmmaker, Mohammad Rasoulof,” Mehr reported.

State news agency IRNA had reported late Friday that Rasoulof, also an award winning filmmaker, had been arrested along with colleague Mostafa Aleahmad.

Panahi was also arrested in 2010, following his support for anti-government protests. He was later convicted of “propaganda against the system,” sentenced to six years in jail and handed a ban on directing or writing films.

Since then has been barred from leaving the country to pick up any of his awards.

In this file photo taken on February 14, 2015 German actress Anke Engelke (L) speaks near a giant portrait of Iranian dissident director Jafar Panahi as the President of the Berlinale International Jury Darren Aronofsky (C) holds the Golden Bear for Best Film going to Panahi for his film Taxi during the closing ceremony of the 65th International Film Festival Berlinale in Berlin (Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)

Restrictions

Rasoulof, 50, won the Golden Bear in Berlin in 2020 with his film “There Is No Evil” but was likewise unable to accept the award in person as he was barred from leaving Iran.

Rasoulof and Aleahmad were arrested over events relating to a deadly building collapse of the Metropol building in the city of Abadan, an event that sparked angry protests, IRNA said.

“In the midst of the heartbreaking incident in Abadan’s Metropol, (the filmmakers) were involved in inciting unrest and disrupting the psychological security of society,” the agency said.

The 10-story Metropol building, which was under construction in southwestern Khuzestan province, collapsed on May 23, killing 43 people.

Ruins of a tower at under construction 10-story Metropol Building after it collapsed in the southwestern city of Abadan, Iran, in a photo released May 27, 2022. (Iranian Senior Vice-President Office via AP)

It sparked demonstrations in solidarity with victims’ families.

Demonstrators demanded that “incompetent officials” responsible for the tragedy be prosecuted and punished, while many faced tear gas, warning shots and arrests by the police.

A group of Iranian filmmakers led by Rasoulof published an open letter calling on the security forces to “lay down their arms” in the face of outrage over the “corruption, theft, inefficiency and repression” surrounding the Abadan collapse.

Rasoulof’s passport had been confiscated after his 2017 film “A Man of Integrity” premiered at Cannes, where it won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

Cannes film festival organizers, in a statement Monday, said they “strongly condemn the (directors’) arrests as well as the wave of repression evidently under way in Iran against its artists,” calling for their immediate release.

The Berlin film festival, which last week protested against the arrests of Rasoulof and Aleahmad, said Monday it was “dismayed and outraged to hear of the arrest of another Iranian filmmaker.”

Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian said the arrest of Panahi was “another violation of freedom of expression and freedom of the arts.”