An Iranian director who was arrested last summer, just weeks before his latest film was widely acclaimed, has gone on hunger strike to protest his ongoing detainment amid more than 4 months of anti-government protests.
Jafar Panahi, whose films have won numerous international awards, issued a statement declaring he would deny food and medicine starting Wednesday.
“in protest against the extra-legal and inhumane behavior of the judicial and security apparatus.”
He is one of several Iranian artists, sports figures, and other celebrities who have been detained for criticising Iran’s theocracy. Since the death of a young woman in police custody sparked nationwide protests in September, such arrests have become more common.
Panahi, 62, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2011 for making anti-government propaganda, but the sentence was never passed out. Despite being barred from both travel and moviemaking, he kept producing underground films that were widely distributed around the world.
He was arrested in July after going to the attorney ’s office in Tehran to request information about the detentions of two other Iranian filmmakers. Later, a judge ruled that he must serve the previous sentence.
No Bears, in which he plays a fictionalised version of himself while filming along the Iran-Turkey border, premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, just a week before the protests began. The New York Times and The Associated Press named it one of the top ten films of the year, and Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang called it the best film of 2022.
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