Iranian film director Jafar Panahi plans to return home despite a new prison sentence against him
Iranian film director Jafar Panahi plans to return home despite a new prison sentence against him
Iranian director Jafar Panahi attends a conversation during the 22nd edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, in Morocco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi attends a conversation during the 22nd edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, in Morocco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi attends a conversation during the 22nd edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, in Morocco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi attends a conversation during the 22nd edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, in Morocco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi attends a conversation during the 22nd edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, in Morocco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
Iranian director Jafar Panahi attends a conversation during the 22nd edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, in Morocco, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mosa’ab Elshamy)
MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Acclaimed Iranian film director Jafar Panahi said on Thursday he plans to return home after touring with his new film, “It Was Just an Accident,” and that he has never contemplated exile despite the threat of prison he faces back in Iran.
A court in Tehran earlier this week sentenced Panahi to a year in prison in absentia and also imposed a two-year ban on him leaving Iran after convicting him on charges of “propaganda activities against the system,” his lawyer Mostafa Nili said in a post on X. Nili said he would appeal the ruling.
The sentence was handed down as “It Was Just an Accident” received three awards at New York City’s Gotham Awards, which Panahi attended before flying to Morocco.
“I know the films I make don’t please the government, but that’s not a reason to leave my country,” he told an applauding audience at the Marrakech International Film Festival on Thursday.
“My country is where I can breathe, where I can find a reason to live and where I can find the strength to create,” he added, indicating he would return to Iran after his tour finishes next year.
Panahi is among the most celebrated of contemporary Iranian directors and has continued making movies despite repeatedly being imprisoned, banned from traveling and put under house arrest by Iranian authorities over the past 20 years.
He filmed “It Was Just an Accident” clandestinely in Iran following a seven-month stint in prison that only ended in 2023 once he went on a hunger strike.
The film is a revenge drama about Iran’s prison system, based on stories Panahi heard while serving time in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison on charges similar to the latest ones. It follows a man who believes he has spotted his former captor and torturer.
The man initially plans to bury his suspected torturer alive, but instead decides to confirm his suspicion by driving him, locked in the back of his van, to other former prisoners to determine whether revenge or forgiveness should prevail.
“It Was Just an Accident” has drawn Oscar buzz as France’s entry in the Best International Feature category and won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in September.
“I have only one passport. It is the passport of my country, and I wish to keep it. Although I was given the opportunity, even in the hardest years, I never considered leaving my country and becoming a refugee elsewhere,” Panahi said.
“I’ve been working night and day on this Oscar campaign for over three months now,” he said. “And yes, as you mentioned, this sentence came in the middle of the process. But I will finish this campaign and go back to Iran as soon as possible.”
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Metz reported from Rabat, Morocco.
