Iran sentences dissident director Jafar Panahi to Abstentia prison

Iran has sentenced Palme d’Or-winning director Jafar Panahi in absentia to a year in prison, his lawyer told Agence France-Presse on Monday.

Branch 26 of Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court also imposed a travel ban on Panahi for “propaganda activities” against Iran, his lawyer added. “Mr. Panahi is currently outside Iran,” he also told AFP, while insisting that they would appeal the Iranian court’s decision.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Panahi is currently in the United States and is expected to attend the Gotham Awards in New York on Monday evening. The dissident Iranian director’s latest legal and political troubles with the Iranian authorities follow Panahi’s winning the Palme d’Or for best film for It was just an accident at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. It was just an accident is nominated for three Gotham Awards.

Panahi, who was imprisoned a few years ago in Tehran and subject to a 20-year travel and work ban, returned triumphantly to Cannes and accepted his prize from jury president (and Panahi fan) Juliette Binoche.

Panahi’s film, his first since his release from prison in 2023, is a direct attack on Iran’s authoritarian regime. The thriller follows a former political prisoner who kidnaps a man he believes to be his tormentor, then debates with other dissidents over whether to kill or pardon him.

Panahi’s 86 days of incarceration in the notorious Evin Prison only resulted in his release after the warden went on hunger strike. He was arrested in July 2022 for going to the prosecutor’s office to inquire about Mohammad Rasoulof, another Iranian director arrested in May for participating in a demonstration.

Panahi was also convicted in 2010 of anti-government activities, but his conviction was not enforced. His 2022 arrest after his investigation into Rasoulof was based on the 2010 conviction. Panahi was later released because the courts said the 2010 conviction could not be enforced because the government took too long to do so.

In recent months, Panahi has been on a film festival tour to promote his latest film.