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There is no Evil: Lawyer says award-winning Iran filmmaker summoned to prison
Source: Associated Press
Lawyer says award-winning Iran filmmaker summoned to prison
By AMIR VAHDAT
March 4, 2020
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian filmmaker who just won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear has been summoned to serve a one-year prison sentence over his movies, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Mohammad Rasoulof’s sentence came from three films he made that authorities found to be “propaganda against the system,” his lawyer Nasser Zarafshan told The Associated Press. Rasoulof’s sentence also included an order than he stop his filmmaking for two years as well, the lawyer said.
The filmmaker received the order via a text message from the judiciary, Zarafshan said. Rasoulof will not turn himself into authorities and will appeal the order, especially given the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in Iran, the lawyer said. Authorities already sent 54,000 prisoners on temporary furlough over concerns about the virus spreading through the country’s prison system.
There was no immediate state media report about Rasoulof’s summons, nor any comment from judiciary officials.
Rasoulof just won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize for his film “There Is No Evil.” The film tells four stories loosely connected to the use of the death penalty in Iran and dealing with personal freedom under tyranny.
-snip-
By AMIR VAHDAT
March 4, 2020
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian filmmaker who just won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear has been summoned to serve a one-year prison sentence over his movies, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Mohammad Rasoulof’s sentence came from three films he made that authorities found to be “propaganda against the system,” his lawyer Nasser Zarafshan told The Associated Press. Rasoulof’s sentence also included an order than he stop his filmmaking for two years as well, the lawyer said.
The filmmaker received the order via a text message from the judiciary, Zarafshan said. Rasoulof will not turn himself into authorities and will appeal the order, especially given the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in Iran, the lawyer said. Authorities already sent 54,000 prisoners on temporary furlough over concerns about the virus spreading through the country’s prison system.
There was no immediate state media report about Rasoulof’s summons, nor any comment from judiciary officials.
Rasoulof just won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize for his film “There Is No Evil.” The film tells four stories loosely connected to the use of the death penalty in Iran and dealing with personal freedom under tyranny.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/ae4e71ec0dfd7de75cf66da4c09170ee
FILE - In this May 24, 2013 file photo, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof poses during a photo call for the film The Immigrant at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France. Nasser Zarafshan, a lawyer for Rasoulof, who just won the Berlin Film Festival's Golden Bear, told The Associated Press on Wednesday, March 4, 2020, that Rasoulof has been summoned to serve a one-year prison sentence. The lawyer said the sentence came from three films he made that authorities found to be “propaganda against the system.” (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)
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