Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi given new prison sentence and has assets seized

The 66-year-old director, who won the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year for "It Was Just an Accident," was sentenced in absentia, his lawyer, Mostafa Nili, told the Iranian news outlet Emtedad. The court also imposed a two-year travel ban and barred him from using social media for two years, Nili said.

Unclear charges

The charges against Panahi remain unclear. He returned to Iran in March from an overseas trip to promote his film, despite having been sentenced in absentia last year to a year in prison for "propaganda activities against the system." A friend of the film-maker, an activist based in Europe, told the Associated Press that he had spoken with Panahi after the sentencing and the film-maker had not been detained.

Legal concerns

Nili said Panahi currently faces three open legal cases, and had not been notified of the hearing date for the latest one. He only learned of the proceedings after his client's bank accounts were frozen last week. Moein Khazaeli, a human rights lawyer at Dadban, said the sentencing, together with the confiscation of Panahi's assets, could violate Iran's constitution unless authorities establish a clear legal basis linking the property to an alleged offence.

Artists' reactions

The latest sentence has raised concerns among fellow artists over the risks facing those who continue to work independently in Iran. Setareh Maleki, an actor forced into exile, told the Guardian: "One of the greatest fears of a dictatorship is losing control over the stories people tell. When those stories cross borders and reach the world, they become impossible to silence." Nazanin Boniadi also condemned the ruling, calling it "yet another attempt to silence a courageous artist whose work exposes the realities of repression in Iran."