Oscar-nominated director Jafar Panahi says he will return to Iran despite looming arrest

iranian language filmmaker Jafar Panahi says he plans to take back to his place rural area of islamic republic of iran after Oscar season is over, despite the looming threat of his arrest amid a government crackdown that has killed thousands of people following countrywide anti-government protests.

The Oscar-nominated director, who has been abroad promoting his latest film It Was Just An Accident, was sentenced in absentia in December 2025 to one year in prison in Iran over “propaganda activities” against the country, according to reports.

"I have been outside Iran for some time because of the Oscar campaign for this film, but as I have said before, as soon as the campaign ends, I will return to Iran," Panahi said Thursday in an interview with Radio Atlantic.

Panahi's lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said at the time of the sentencing that it includes a two-year ban on leaving Iran and prohibition from membership in any political or social groups. He said they would file an appeal.

Panahi was one of 17 Iranian activists, artists, lawyers and journalists who signed a statement shared on X earlier this year expressing support for the widespread protests against Iran's Islamic Republic regime.

"The great movement of civil resistance by the people of Iran, by taking over the streets, is proclaiming the national will to remove the illegitimate regime of the Islamic Republic," reads the statement shared on Jan. 2 by Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who is currently imprisoned in Iran.

"We stand with the people to reclaim the right to a dignified life, freedom, justice, human dignity and sovereignty over our own destiny," the statement said.

Panahi's 2025 film It Was Just an Accident, which was secretly filmed in Iran without government permission, received two Oscar nominations: best international feature film and best original screenplay. The 98th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 15.

Last year, the film won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It also won best director, original screenplay and best international feature at the Gotham Awards.

The story was inspired by Panahi’s own experiences of having been imprisoned twice on charges of anti-government propaganda, as well as the experiences of those he met in Tehran’s Evin Prison.

Freelance journalists Mehdi Mahmoudian, Panahi's co-writer on It Was Just An Accident, and Vida Rabbani were among those detained in Iran after signing the same letter.

Panahi told The Atlantic that he was exchanging messages with Mahmoudian — whom he met when they were both imprisoned in 2022 — until shortly before Mahmoudian's arrest on Jan. 31.

Panahi said Mahmoudian's family only heard from him several days after he was detained.

"He had only one minute to say that he is alive and he is OK and he has been arrested, and then the phone got shut off."

Both Mahmoudian and Rabbani are former political prisoners who have been repeatedly targeted by Iranian authorities for their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The Center for Human Rights in Iran said Rabbani launched a hunger strike on Feb. 5 to protest her continued detention, in a statement Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mohammadi, saying it was "deeply appalled by credible reports detailing [her] brutal arrest, physical abuse and ongoing life‑threatening mistreatment.”

It said that the committee had received information Mohammadi had been beaten during her arrest in December and continued to be mistreated.

The statement comes after Iran sentenced the 53-year-old to more than seven more years in prison for "gathering and collusion," in addition to 1½ years for spreading propaganda and a two-year travel ban, said Nili, who is also her lawyer.

The committee cited witness accounts and verified testimony from her family who have said that security agents formed a “tunnel” around Mohammadi, beating her repeatedly with wooden sticks and batons. They say she was also dragged across the ground by her hair, "tearing sections of her scalp and causing open wounds."

Witness accounts reported that Mohammadi was repeatedly kicked in the genitals and pelvic region, leaving her unable to sit or move without severe pain.

Jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner defies Iranian oppression in smuggled speech

"She continues to be denied adequate, sustained medical followup while being subjected to heavy interrogation and intimidation," committee chair Jørgen Watne Frydnes said in a statement.

"She has fainted several times, suffers from dangerously high blood pressure and has been prevented from accessing necessary followup for suspected breast tumors."

Supporters had warned for months before her arrest that she was at risk of being put back into prison after she received a furlough in December 2024 over medical concerns.

The death toll from a crackdown over Iran's countrywide protests last month now stands at more than 7,000 people, with many more still feared dead, activists said on Thursday.

The continued rise in the tally of the dead adds to the overall tensions facing Iran inside the country and abroad as it tries to negotiate with the United States over its nuclear program.

In its latest report on Thursday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said at least 7,005 people were killed, while an additional 11,730 cases remain under investigation. The agency has been accurate, The Associated Press says, in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.

HRANA says the number of injured civilians has been recorded at 25,845, and some 53,166 people have been arrested.

Iranian doctor describes treating patients during protest crackdown

Of the total number killed, HRANA said 6,506 have been classified as “protesters,” including 219 children under the age of 18.

HRANA said 214 of those killed were members of military or government forces, while 66 were recorded as non-protester civilians.

The rise in the death toll comes as the agency continues to cross-check information while communication remains difficult with those inside of the Islamic Republic.

Iran's government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran's theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from unrest.

Senior Writer

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