Iran court sentences Cannes-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi to 5 years in prison

An Iranian court has sentenced renowned filmmaker Jafar Panahi in absentia to over five years in prison, Iranian media said quoting his lawyer, although the latest charges remain unclear.

"The Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced my client to five years and one month in prison and ordered the confiscation of all his movable and immovable property," the ISNA news agency reported, citing his lawyer Mostafa Nili on Tuesday.

"The court also imposed a two-year ban on



social media activity and a two-year travel ban," he added. The ISNA report did not specify the charges. Nili said he discovered the conviction after Panahi told him last week that his bank accounts had been frozen, prompting the lawyer to visit the sentence enforcement office of the Culture and Media Prosecutor's Office.

The lawyer said Panahi had returned to Iran during the war with Israel and the United States which broke out on February 28. It remains unclear if Panahi has remained in Iran.