Asia

Asia

Iranian President opposes film-maker Panahi’s sentence

19 January 2011 10:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA. Iran’s government opposes a sentence served on renowned filmmaker Jafar Panahi which jails him for six years and bans him from making movies for 20 years, APA reports quoting Fars new agency.

"It is the judiciary which has passed the sentence and it is not the position of the government and the president," said Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff. "We do not approve that Jafar Panahi cannot work for a long time based on this sentence," Rahim Mashaie was quoted as saying by Shargh newspaper. The sentence was handed down on Panahi for his anti-regime activities, according to his lawyer Farideh Gheirat. Last month Gheirat told the media the verdict was passed after Panahi was tried for "(participating) in a gathering and carrying out propaganda against the system." "His social rights, which include a ban on making movies, writing scripts, foreign travel and giving interviews to domestic and foreign media, have been taken away for 20 years."

Gheirat has already appealed against the ruling. Panahi was arrested on March 1 along with his wife, daughter and several others at his home. Most of those arrested were subsequently released. He was freed on a bail of around 200,000 US dollars in May. Soon after his arrest, Iranian officials said he was detained for making an "anti-regime" film about the unrest which rocked Iran after the disputed re-election of Ahmadinejad in June 2009. Panahi had said that "when a filmmaker does not make films it is as if he is jailed. Even when he is freed from the small jail, he finds himself wandering in a larger jail.

"The main question is: why should it be a crime to make a movie? A finished film, well, it can get banned but not the director," Panahi said. While in prison before his release on bail Panahi resorted to a hunger strike to protest at the conditions of his detention and to press his demand that he be freed. Panahi is known for his gritty, socially critical movies such as the "Circle," which bagged the 2000 Venice Golden Lion award, "Crimson Gold," and "Offside," winner of the 2006 Silver Bear at the Berlin film festival. In February 2010, the authorities banned Panahi from leaving the country to attend the Berlin film festival. His arrest in March was protested by top international filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee and Oliver Stone and by several young Iranian directors. The Cannes film festival and the French government had also condemned the jailing of Panahi, while French actress Juliette Binoche reportedly wept when she heard that he was on hunger strike.