Filmmaker Jafar Panahi sentenced to one year prison in Iran

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who won the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival has been sentenced to on year in prison in absentia in Iran, by the Tehran Revolutionary Court. His lawyer, Mostafa Nili, shared the news on December 1, 2025.

He has also been sentenced with a two-year travel and has been prohibited to be a member of any other political or social groups.

Jafar Panahi's imprisonment follows charges of engaging in 'propaganda activities'

Award winning filmmaker, Jafar Panahi's lawyer Mostafa Nili said that they would file an appeal following the sentence. Without diving into too many details, the lawyer said that charges against the filmmaker by the Tehran Revolutionary Court included his engagement in "propaganda activities" against Iran's regime.

The 65-year-old filmmaker won the highest price, Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival for his film, It Was Just an Accident, making him a prominent name in world cinema.

The film revolved around a group of ex-prisoners who confronted a man they thought were their jailer when they were imprisoned. The critically acclaimed film was seen as a metaphor for state oppression and one that stood up to power structures. His prison sentence follows months after his film won a global award.

This is not the first time Jafar Panahi has faced the brunt of Iran's legal system. In 2009, the director had publicly registered his support for the anti-government protests at the time. A year later, in 2010, he was convicted of engaging in "propaganda against the system". Consequently, he was sentenced to six years of prison and was slapped with a ban of 20 years from filmmaking. Placed in house arrest, he was banned from international travel or public media appearances.

Jafar did not halt his resistance, he carried on. While in house arrest, he directed a documentary with Mojtaba Mirtahmasb in 2011 called, This Is Not a Film. The film was then screened at the Cannes Film Festival after it was smuggled out of Iran.

His 2025 Cannes appearance was the first time that he returned to the festival in two decades, after navigating through bans and restrictions.

With the current sentence, Jafar Panahi once again faces censorship as this is yet another attempt to make him and his art fall silent.

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