The acclaimed Iranian director Jafar Panahiwinner of Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival for the anti-death penalty tape ‘The Lives of Others’, announced the start of a hunger strike after more than six months of imprisonment in Evin prison, in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
In a statement posted on Wednesday by his wife, Tahereh Saeedi, on his Instagram profile, Panahi stated that he will not eat, drink or take medicine until he is released from prison, an action to protest the “illegal and inhuman behavior” of the Iranian regime’s security and judicial apparatus.
The publication, also shared on the profile of Panahi’s son, received thousands of comments from the Iranian film community, including that of the actor, writer and director. Hamid Farrokhnezhad or the actress Laleh Eskandari.
“Despite the fact that my detention was illegal, the respected lawyers managed to violate the 1990 law by resuming proceedings in the Supreme Court, the highest authority for judicial cases, on October 15, 2022 of this year so that I can go to the same courtroom for a new trial,” reads the statement.
The director, screenwriter and producer Sadr Aamili requested this Thursday the release of Panahi, as well as that of Mozhgan Ilanlua documentary filmmaker who was sentenced to ten years in prison and 74 lashes for posting a photo of herself walking through Tehran unveiled in solidarity with anti-government protests following the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.
Panahi, who received the Golden Bear at the 2015 Berlinale for the film ‘Tehran Taxi‘, went to Evin prison on 11 July to protest the arrest of his colleagues, filmmakers Mohamad Rasoulof and Mustafa al-Ahmad.
Rasoulof –winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for the film against the death penalty ‘The Lives of Others’– and Al Ahmad were arrested for asking the Iranian authorities for restraint when it came to quelling the protests over the collapse of a building in the province of Khuzestan, in the south of the country.
Panahi, director of ‘The White Balloon’ (1995), is incarcerated in Evin jail after having his 2010 prison sentence revoked for participating in anti-government protests the previous year.
Twelve years ago, the Justice decided to release him provisionally on a bail of about 200,000 dollars (about 196,000 euros), although it prohibited him from continuing to make films, travel abroad or give interviews.
With information from Europa Press
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Source-www.infobae.com