Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who won the Palme d'Or at Cannes with It Was Just an Accident, has been sentenced by a Tehran Revolutionary Court to five years and one month in prison in a separate ruling, on top of the one-year sentence he was already facing, Variety reported, citing the Emtedad News Agency, an online Iranian reformist outlet.
Panahi's lawyer, Mostafa Nili, told Emtedad that the court sentenced his client in absentia. It also ordered the confiscation of Panahi's assets and imposed a two-year ban on using social media and a two-year travel ban. According to the lawyer, implementation of both rulings is discretionary. Variety said it is unclear what the charges against Panahi are in this case.
A verdict discovered through frozen accounts
Nili said Panahi's bank accounts were suddenly frozen in October. The lawyer then went with his client to the prosecutor's office in Tehran, where they learned of the verdict issued in absentia.
According to Nili, the case file stated that Panahi was living outside Iran. In fact, the director returned to Iran on 30 March 2026, shortly after the 98th Academy Awards, where It Was Just an Accident was nominated for Best International Feature as France's candidate.
Two decades of clashes
Variety noted that Panahi has had frequent run-ins with the Iranian authorities over the past two decades. He is also known for prize-winning films such as The Circle, Offside, This is Not a Film, Taxi and No Bears.
| When | What happened, per Variety |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Banned from making films, speaking to the press and travelling; kept making films in secret |
| 2022 | Arrested in connection with protests by a group of filmmakers; released about seven months later |
| April 2023 | Ban lifted; later allowed to travel to Cannes to launch It Was Just an Accident |
| 30 March 2026 | Returns to Iran after the Oscars while facing a one-year sentence on charges of engaging in propaganda activities against the Iranian state |
| October 2026 | Bank accounts frozen; lawyer learns of the new five-year, one-month sentence |
It Was Just an Accident follows a group of former prisoners confronting a guard who tortured them, and draws on Panahi's own incarceration. He travelled widely to promote it, yet chose to go home despite escalating tension that made the return very risky.
What remains unclear
The charges behind the new ruling have not been made public, and the lawyer says enforcement of both sentences is discretionary. Variety did not report on any appeal or on when the sentences might be carried out. Explaining his decision to go back, Panahi told Variety: "I need to breathe there and work there. And even if they want to go ahead with that prison sentence, they can go ahead. Nothing will change my mind about going back."