Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof flees to Europe after being sentenced to prison and flogging

CNN
—

Renowned Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof said he fled his home country to an undisclosed location in Europe after an Iranian court sentenced him to prison on national security grounds.

Rasoulof condemned the Iranian government in an Instagram post on Monday, calling it a tyrannical and oppressive regime, and posting a video showing it crossing the country’s mountainous border.

“If geographical Iran suffers under your religious tyranny, cultural Iran is alive in the common minds of millions of Iranians who were forced to leave Iran because of your brutality and no power can impose its will. From today, I am a resident of cultural Iran,” he said.

In a separate statement dated May 12, Rasoulof said he decided to flee Iran after his lawyers told him his prison sentence would be implemented shortly.

“I had to choose between prison and leaving Iran. With a heavy heart, I chose exile,” he said in this press release provided by a spokesperson.

CNN has contacted Iranian authorities for comment. His lawyer, Babak Paknia, said last week that an Iranian court sentenced Rasoulof to eight years in prison and flogging after finding his films and documentaries were “examples of collusion with intent to commit a crime.” against the security of the country.

Rasoulof is among several high-profile artists to have been caught up in a growing crackdown on dissent by Iranian authorities since nationwide protests erupted following the 2022 death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for not wearing her headscarf correctly.

Rasoulof, whose recent films have criticized the Iranian government, was among a group of artists and filmmakers who signed a letter criticizing security forces’ violent response to suppress a 2022 protest following the collapse of a building in the southwestern city of Abadan that left more people dead. more than 40 people.

Rasoulof won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival in 2020 for “There Is No Evil” and his film “A Man of Integrity” was awarded a “Certain Regard” at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2017.

The filmmaker’s latest film, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” is set to premiere at Cannes next week, but it is unclear whether he will be able to attend.

“We are very happy and relieved that Mohammad arrived safely in Europe after a dangerous journey,” said Jean-Christophe Simon, the distributor of Rasoulof’s latest film.

The head of Films Boutique and Parallel45 added that he hoped Rasoulof would be able to attend the Cannes premiere of his film “despite all attempts to prevent him from being there in person.”

Rasoulof said on Instagram that he will now work to quickly complete the final technical stages of his film’s post-production.

“Many people contributed to the making of this film. My thoughts are with them all and I fear for their safety and well-being,” he said, accusing the Iranian government of pressuring members of its production team through interrogations, court filings and restrictions. of travel.

Rasoulof did not specify how he fled Iran, saying only that he did so secretly with the help of friends and acquaintances.

In 2022, an Iranian court sentenced Rasoulof to a year in prison and banned him from making films for two years for “propaganda against the system,” according to Human Rights Watch. Iranian authorities have already arrested him several times and confiscated his passport because of his work, HRW said.

Additional reporting by Michael Rios