Iran upholds prison sentence against Jafar Panahi
Director Jafar Panahi has had his one-year prison sentence upheld by the Iranian regime.
Panahi, who won the Palme d’Or in 2025 for his latest movie, It Was Just An Accident, was sentenced on December 1st, 2025, receiving a one-year prison sentence in absentia.
Now, Mostafa Nili, Panahi’s lawyer, confirmed to the Iranian media outlet Emtedad, “Under the initial verdict, Panahi had been sentenced to one year in prison on the charge of engaging in propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Furthermore, as part of the sentencing, Panahi has also been handed a two-year travel ban, and is also prohibited from holding membership with political and social groups.
However, Nili confirmed that Panahi now has a 20-day period in which he can submit an appeal to Tehran’s Provincial Court of Appeal.
According to Nili, the sentence relates to the creation of an “underground and problematic film against the establishment,” as well as supporting protest groups, such as the Woman, Life, Freedom movement.
Panahi has had many run-ins with the Iranian regime over the years. He was previously imprisoned in 2022 at Iran’s Evin prison after making enquiries regarding the arrests of fellow Iranian director, Mohammad Rasoulof, for protesting.
Panahi was eventually released in 2023 after going on a hunger strike.
He was also handed a six-year sentence in 2010 for anti-government activity, but it wasn’t enforced, and no prison time was spent.
Despite the sentencing, Panahi has continued to be an outspoken critic of the regime, saying in January, “The Islamic Republic has entirely lost its legitimacy, and now there is no more doubt of that.”
He added, “It appears that the regime is finding itself at a dead end, and the protests this year seem to be the most important of anything that’s happened all these years, and because it is about its existence or non-existence, it is going to do anything.”
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