{"id":1148,"date":"2010-04-13T11:42:53","date_gmt":"2010-04-13T11:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=1148"},"modified":"2010-04-13T11:42:53","modified_gmt":"2010-04-13T11:42:53","slug":"freedom-for-jafar-panahi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopoi.org\/?p=1148","title":{"rendered":"Freedom for Jafar Panahi!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"panahi<\/a>Eight things you can do now to support the campaign!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over two months since his arrest, Panahi, whose most famous films are the widely acclaimed The ci<\/em>rcle<\/em> (winner of the Golden Lion prize at the Vienna film festival in 2000) and Offside<\/em>, has still not been charged with any crime. Twice offered bail during that time, he has refused out of solidarity with all those incarcerated for their participation in the mass demonstrations against the regime that have shaken Iran since June 2009.<\/p>\n

His detention is the most serious example of the treatment Panahi has suffered so far. Up to now, the theocratic regime has been conducting a campaign of harassment against the 49-year-old artist. He has been unable to travel abroad since wearing a green scarf – the colour of the opposition movement – at the Montreal Film Festival in 2009. He was also arrested briefly after attending the memorial service for student Neda Agha Soltan, who was murdered by regime forces during a demonstration. Earlier the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance had announced he would not be allowed to make another movie until he \u2018re-edited\u2019 earlier films and he was unable to work for a year.<\/p>\n

There is a clear theme of social criticism in his work. In a 2007 interview with the LA Times<\/em>, Panahi described himself as \u201ca socially committed filmmaker\u201d who operates in the context of a brutally oppressive society: \u201cMy movies are about limitations and restrictions, and these are restrictions that I\u2019ve personally experienced.\u201d However, those are minor relative to \u201cthe greater restrictions that Iranian women are suffering\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

The prison authorities are piling on the pressure. His wife, Tahereh Saeedi, was only allowed to meet him on March 31 – almost a month after his arrest. She reports that his interrogators continually cover the same ground: \u201cThey keep asking him the same questions in order to find contradictions in his comments,\u201d Saeedi revealed in a radio interview.<\/p>\n

Mosh\u00e9 Machover<\/strong>, a member of the Hopi steering committee, commented in a press statement: \u201cJafar Panahi has taken a brave stance. He stands shoulder to shoulder with those brave participants in the mass movement of opposition to the theocratic regime that have been arrested. Now we must stand shoulder to shoulder with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comrade Machover continued: \u201cOur most effective act of solidarity with the inspiring movement for radical change that has filled Iran\u2019s streets is to ensure that imperialism does not launch another disastrous military adventure in the Middle East, this time against an Iran which is pregnant with radical, genuinely democratic change from below<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

John Mc<\/strong>Donnell MP<\/strong>, a supporter of Hopi, said: “The world must make its voice heard in demanding that Jafar Panahi is released without charge along with all those incarcerated for nothing more than demanding basic civil liberties and democratic rights. These violations of basic human rights\u00a0must not be allowed to go unnoticed and without protest.”<\/p>\n

Eight things you can do now:<\/h2>\n