Award-winning director Mohammad Rasoulof sentenced to prison in Iran ahead of Cannes

FILE - Iran ian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof poses during a photo call for the film “The Immigrant” at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France on May 24, 2013. Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashings just ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes film festival, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Thursday, May 9, 2024.

Rasoulof, 51, known for his film “There Is No Evil,” has become the latest artist targeted in a widening crackdown on all dissent in the Islamic Republic following years of mass protests, including over Iranian authorities haven’t acknowledged the sentence but Rasoulof and other artists had co-signed a letter urging authorities to “put your gun down” amid demonstrations overin the southwestern city of Abadan. In the time since then, artists, athletes, celebrities and others have been called for questioning or faced prison sentences.

“This judgment is issued due to Mr. Rasoulof signing statements in support of the Iranian people,” his lawyer Babak Paknia told the AP. He said that those statements, along with his tweets and further social activities, were found to be instances of ‘action against national security.

He has faced repeated prison sentences and film bans in his native Iran, whose Shiite theocracy long has railed against Western-embraced artists as a part of a “soft war” against its policies. Yet Iran has become known on the international film circuit for daring, thought-provoking movies outlining the challenges of life in the Islamic Republic.Gambrell is the news director for the Gulf and Iran for The Associated Press.

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