Free Jafar Panahi and all political prisoners in Iran

international | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Sunday April 18, 2010 13:59 by pat c

Hands Off the People of Iran has been campaigning for the release of the internationally know Iranian filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, arrested by the Islamic regime on March 1

Over a month since his arrest, Panahi, whose most famous films are the widely acclaimed The circle (winner of the Golden Lion prize at the Vienna film festival in 2000) and Offside, has still not been charged with any crime. Twice offered bail during that time, he has refused out of solidarity with all those incarcerated for their participation in the mass demonstrations against the regime that have shaken Iran since June 2009.

His detention is the most serious example of the treatment Panahi has suffered so far. Up to now, the theocratic regime has been conducting a campaign of harassment against the 49-year-old artist. He has been unable to travel abroad since wearing a green scarf - the colour of the opposition movement - at the Montreal Film Festival in 2009. He was also arrested briefly after attending the memorial service for student Neda Agha Soltan, who was murdered by regime forces during a demonstration. Earlier the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance had announced he would not be allowed to make another movie until he ‘re-edited’ earlier films and he was unable to work for a year.

There is a clear theme of social criticism in his work. In a 2007 interview with the LA Times, Panahi described himself as “a socially committed filmmaker” who operates in the context of a brutally oppressive society: “My movies are about limitations and restrictions, and these are restrictions that I’ve personally experienced.” However, those are minor relative to “the greater restrictions that Iranian women are suffering”, he said.

The prison authorities are piling on the pressure. His wife, Tahereh Saeedi, was only allowed to meet him on March 31 - almost a month after his arrest. She reports that his interrogators continually cover the same ground: “They keep asking him the same questions in order to find contradictions in his comments,” Saeedi revealed in a radio interview.

Moshé Machover, a member of the HOPI International steering committee, commented in a press statement: “Jafar Panahi has taken a brave stance. He stands shoulder to shoulder with those brave participants in the mass movement of opposition to the theocratic regime that have been arrested. Now we must stand shoulder to shoulder with him.”

Comrade Machover continued: “Our most effective act of solidarity with the inspiring movement for radical change that has filled Iran’s streets is to ensure that imperialism does not launch another disastrous military adventure in the Middle East, this time against an Iran which is pregnant with radical, genuinely democratic change from below”.

Three things you can do:

* Send emails, faxes and letters of protest to:
The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
72 Mount Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co. Dublin,
iranembassy@indigo.ie
Tel: 01 288 5881 / 01 288 0252. Fax: 01 283 4246.

Don’t forget to send us a copy: Anne@hopoi.info

* Put on showings of Panahi’s films: The wounded head (1988), Kish (1991),
The last exam (1992), The circle (2000), Crimson gold (2003) and above all Offside (2006).

* Order Hopi’s ‘Free Panahi’ postcards from PO Box 54631, London N16 8YE or email office@hopoi.info

For more info contact: 086 23 43 238 or Anne@hopoi.info