ID :
109510
Wed, 03/03/2010 - 13:37
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/109510
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Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi detained
TEHRAN, March 3 (MNA) -- Iranian security forces arrested world-renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi along with his family and a number of friends at his home in Tehran on Monday, a number of Persian-language websites reported.
Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said on Tuesday that there was no political or professional reason for the arrest.
“He has been suspected of committing some crimes, which have been reported, and he has been arrested along with one of his friends,” he added.
Panahi and members of his family had previously been arrested during an opposition protest that was held at a Tehran cemetery on July 30 in memory of the demonstrators who were killed in the streets as a result of the unrest after the June 12, 2009 presidential election. However, they were quickly released.
In addition, he also presided over the competition jury of the 33rd Montreal World Film Festival, where he was seen wearing a green scarf. Green is the color that has been adopted as the symbol of Iranians protesting against the outcome of the 2009 presidential election, in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the winner.
Later, Panahi’s passport was confiscated at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport when he was trying to board a flight to France last October.
He was thus unable to join the International Jury for the First Feature Film of Directors at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival in late October 2009.
The travel restrictions that the Iranian authorities imposed on Panahi also prevented him from attending the Berlinale in February, although he had been invited by Berlin film festival director Dieter Kosslick.
Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said on Tuesday that there was no political or professional reason for the arrest.
“He has been suspected of committing some crimes, which have been reported, and he has been arrested along with one of his friends,” he added.
Panahi and members of his family had previously been arrested during an opposition protest that was held at a Tehran cemetery on July 30 in memory of the demonstrators who were killed in the streets as a result of the unrest after the June 12, 2009 presidential election. However, they were quickly released.
In addition, he also presided over the competition jury of the 33rd Montreal World Film Festival, where he was seen wearing a green scarf. Green is the color that has been adopted as the symbol of Iranians protesting against the outcome of the 2009 presidential election, in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the winner.
Later, Panahi’s passport was confiscated at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Airport when he was trying to board a flight to France last October.
He was thus unable to join the International Jury for the First Feature Film of Directors at the 11th Mumbai Film Festival in late October 2009.
The travel restrictions that the Iranian authorities imposed on Panahi also prevented him from attending the Berlinale in February, although he had been invited by Berlin film festival director Dieter Kosslick.
