Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison

Authorities of the Islamic Republic have sentenced filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof to eight years in prison. 

In a post on X, the filmmaker’s lawyer, Babak Paknia, wrote that a Revolutionary Court sentenced Rasoulof to eight years of imprisonment, flogging, a fine, and confiscation of property. 

The judgment was confirmed in a Court of Appeal, and the case has now been sent for enforcement, Paknia wrote.

The lawyer added that the main reason for issuing the sentence was Rasoulof’s public statements and making films and documentaries, which, in the court’s opinion, are “examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the country’s security.”

Rasoulof’s films are celebrated alongside those of fellow countrymen Abbas Kiarostami, Asghar Farhadi, and Jafar Panahi, earning critical acclaim beyond Iran's borders. 

Among them, Panahi has endured the most consistent persecution by the Iranian state, enduring multiple imprisonments and house arrests. 

Panahi's most recent imprisonment, in July 2022, concluded in February 2023 following a hunger strike. Shortly thereafter, he departed Iran for the first time in 14 years.