Iranian film director, Jafar Panahi has finally left Iran after being kept under strict supervision and banned for 14 years.
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In 2009, a travel ban and filmmaking ban were imposed on him by the government of the Islamic Republic for “making propaganda against the system.”
According to the authorities, Panahi was arrested because “he tried to make a documentary about the unrest that followed the disputed 2009 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”
On April 25, 2023, his wife Tahereh Saeedi posted a picture of them at an undisclosed airport with the caption that translates into English;
“After 14 years, Jafar’s ban was canceled and finally we are going to travel together for a few days.”
Some sources claim that they were at a French Airport.
Even though he was facing severe threats from the government and banned from making films, he still managed to produce a few popular movies in the past decade. Some of these movies include; This Is Not A Film, No Bears, Closed Curtain, Taxi, Three Faces, and more.
Panahi was arrested on March 1, 2010, along with his wife and daughter, but the women were released after a few days. He remained in section 209 inside Evin Prison until May 25, 2010, when he was released on $200,000 bail while awaiting trial.
He was convicted of “assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country’s national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic,” on December 20, 2010.
On 15 October 2011, he was sentenced and banned in a Tehran court, and placed on house arrest. Since then, he was not allowed to move freely and walk around until he was reportedly freed on April 25, 2023.
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