Story perspectives

Iran Sentences Jafar Panahi to Five Years In Absentia

By Drooid · Oct 28, 2026 · How we work

Read the story

Story summary

Summary

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was sentenced in absentia to five years, one month in prison.
Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court ordered confiscation of his movable and immovable assets.
The verdict, issued without notice, listed Panahi as abroad even though he returned on 30 March 2026.
Panahi now faces three open legal cases with no hearing date set for the new sentence.

Summary

Jafar Panahi’s film “It Was Just an Accident” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2025.
The same film received an Academy Award nomination for the 2026 ceremony.
Panahi undertook a hunger strike while imprisoned in 2023 after his seven-month sentence ended.
Panahi told Democracy Now! in New York in January that he intends to return to Iran.
A Europe-based activist said Panahi was not detained after the latest court ruling.

History

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the 1980 Cultural Revolution, closing universities for three years and imposing strict censorship that also shut cinemas. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has continued to ban films and imprison directors. In 2026 the Revolutionary Court sentenced filmmaker Jafar Panahi, reviving the regime’s long-standing repression of cinema.

1 of 3

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini ordered the 1980 Cultural Revolution, closing universities for three years and imposing strict censorship that also shut cinemas. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance has continued to ban films and imprison directors. In 2026 the Revolutionary Court sentenced filmmaker Jafar Panahi, reviving the regime’s long-standing repression of cinema.

1 / 3