From the Liveblog of
Sunday, February 1, 2026
Oscar-nominated Iranian screenwriter arrested in Tehran after condemning Khamenei
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One of the Oscar-nominated screenwriters of the Iranian drama, “It Was Just an Accident” was arrested yesterday in Tehran just weeks before the Academy Awards.
Representatives for the film say that Mehdi Mahmoudian was arrested Saturday.
No details on the charges against Mahmoudian were available. But his arrest came just days after Mahmoudian and 16 others signed a statement condemning Islamic Republic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the regime’s violent crackdown on demonstrators.
Two other signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were also arrested.
Jafar Panahi, the prize-winning director of “It Was Just an Accident,” issues a statement decrying his co-writer’s arrest.
“Mehdi Mahmoudian is not just a human-rights activist and a prisoner of conscience; he is a witness, a listener, and a rare moral presence — a presence whose absence is immediately felt, both inside prison walls and beyond them,” Panahi says.
Panahi was also a signatory on the January 28 statement. It reads in part: “The mass and systematic killing of citizens who bravely took to the streets to bring an end to an illegitimate regime constitutes an organized state crime against humanity.”
“It Was Just an Accident” is nominated for best screenplay and best international film at the March 15 Oscars. The film, made covertly in Iran, was France’s nominee for best international film.
The Times of Israel Community.