LAHORE – Iran’s Revolutionary Court sentenced award-winning film director Jafar Panahi to five years in prison and the seizure of all his assets, a wire service reported on Wednesday. The court also banned Panahi from leaving the country for two years and from any social media activity. Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Panahi, whose film It Was Just an Accident won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes film festival, has been arrested several times in the past for his filmmaking.
Despite having been sentenced to a one-year prison sentence in absentia in 2025 for propaganda activities against the system, Panahi returned to the country in March.