No Happy New Year for Jafar Panahi
I was watching NECN News this morning and
noticed on the crawl something about the Iranian government releasing some activists
and "a filmmaker" in celebration of the Iranian New Year. Could it have been
Jafar Panahi?
Checking out the story on-line, it turns out
the lucky filmmaker was Mohammad Rasoulof, who was arrested on March 1 along
with Panahi and 14 other people (including Panahi's wife) who have since been
released. Panahi alone remains in custody.
Numerous groups and individuals, including the
Toronto Film Critics Association Federation of
European Film Directors, the European
Film Academy,
the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards, the Karlovy Vary International Film
Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam
and Human Rights Watch, have protested this persecution of a brave and brilliant
artist. You can add your voice by signing this petition.