Iranian court sentences Cannes Film Festival laureate Jafar Panahi

The Tehran Revolutionary Court has sentenced Iranian film director of Azerbaijani origin Jafar Panahi in absentia to five years and one month of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

As 1news.az reports, citing the Emtedad agency, this was announced by the director's lawyer Mustafa Nili.

In addition to the prison term, Panahi has been barred for two years from leaving the country and from using social media. Furthermore, his bank accounts have been frozen.

The reasons for the charges brought against the director and the details of the case have not yet been disclosed. The court ruling also states that Panahi does not currently reside in Iran.

Jafar Panahi is considered one of the best-known representatives of Iranian auteur cinema. In 2025, his film "It Was Just an Accident" received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The picture was also nominated for an Academy Award in the categories of Best Foreign Language Film and Best Original Screenplay.

It is also worth noting that the director was born in the city of Mianeh, located in the East Azerbaijan province in northwestern Iran, where a significant portion of Iranian Azerbaijanis live. As is known, Panahi's family belonged to the working class and spoke mainly Azerbaijani at home. He used Persian in public settings.

In addition to all this, the linguistic and cultural environment of the region is also reflected in the director's work. In particular, in the film "No Bears," the action unfolds in a border village where the characters speak, among other languages, Azerbaijani.