Published: : October 30, 2026, 11:41 AM
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to five years in prison by a Tehran Revolutionary Court in a new ruling. The verdict also imposes a two-year ban on international travel and social media use, along with an order to confiscate his assets. The latest sentence comes in addition to an earlier one-year prison term he was already facing.
Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, told the Emtedad News Agency that the latest verdict was delivered in absentia. According to Nili, the filmmaker’s bank accounts were unexpectedly frozen last week. When his legal team approached the Tehran prosecutor’s office to investigate, they learned about the new ruling. However, the enforcement of both prison sentences remains at the authorities’ discretion, ANI reported.
Panahi has faced repeated pressure from Iranian authorities throughout his career. In 2010, he was prohibited from making films, speaking to the media and leaving the country. Despite the restrictions, he continued directing films, often working secretly. His acclaimed works include The Circle, Offside, This Is Not a Film, Taxi and No Bears.
In 2022, Panahi was arrested in connection with protests involving a group of filmmakers. He was released approximately seven months later. His filmmaking and travel restrictions were eventually lifted in April 2023, allowing him to attend the Cannes Film Festival.
At Cannes, he presented It Was Just an Accident, a drama about former prisoners confronting their traumatic experiences with a guard who had tortured them. The film subsequently received international attention, and Panahi travelled abroad to promote it.
Despite the existing one-year prison sentence and mounting tensions in Iran, Panahi chose to return to his home country after completing his international promotional activities. His return exposed him once again to the possibility of imprisonment. The latest ruling adds to the continuing legal and political pressure on one of Iran’s most internationally recognised filmmakers.
