Iran Court Confirms Six-Year Sentence for Director Jafar Panahi

An Iranian appellate court has let stand the original verdict against Oscar-nominated filmmaker Jafar Panahi, convicted of propaganda against the state and barred from travel and filmmaking for two decades.

An Iranian court upheld its earlier conviction of director Jafar Panahi on charges of propaganda against the regime.
The original sentence carried six years in prison along with a 20-year ban on directing, writing screenplays, giving interviews, and leaving Iran.
Panahi was Oscar-nominated for his 2015 film Taxi and has previously served time in Evin Prison.
The verdict was confirmed following an appeal process, according to reporting by The Hollywood Reporter.
Iranian authorities have pursued Panahi intermittently since an initial arrest and travel ban dating to 2010.

An Iranian appellate court has upheld the conviction of director Jafar Panahi on charges of “propaganda against the regime,” confirming a six-year prison sentence first handed down in 2022, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

Panahi, whose 2015 film Taxi earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, has been a recurring subject of Iranian state prosecution since authorities first arrested him in 2010 and issued an initial 20-year ban on directing, writing scripts, traveling abroad, and speaking to foreign media.

The 2022 arrest came after Panahi appeared at Evin Prison to inquire about fellow detained filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad. He was held at Evin for several months before release on medical grounds, with the original verdict remaining active.

The now-confirmed sentence runs six years. The travel and professional prohibitions run 20.

Panahi has continued making films throughout the period of the ban — including This Is Not a Film, smuggled out of Iran on a flash drive hidden inside a cake.