Oscar-nominated screenwriter arrested in Iran
The Oscar-nominated screenwriter of the Iranian drama It Was Just an Accident has been arrested in Tehran. This was reported by the agency Associated Press.
The screenwriter was detained just a few weeks before the Oscars. It will be held on the night of March 16 in Los Angeles.
Representatives of the team said on Sunday that Mehdi Mahmoudian was arrested on Saturday. Details of the charges against him have not yet been disclosed.
However, the screenwriter's arrest came just a few days after Makhmoudian and 16 others signed a statement condemning Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei for the brutal suppression of demonstrations.
Two other signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were also arrested.
The director of the film It Was Just an Accident, Jafar Panahi, issued a statement condemning the arrest of the screenwriter.
"Mehdi Mahmoudian is not just a human rights activist and a prisoner of conscience; he is a witness, a listener, and a rare example of moral authority – authority whose absence is immediately felt both inside and outside the prison walls," Panahi said.
Panahi also signed a statement on January 28. In particular, it reads: "The massive and systematic killings of citizens who bravely took to the streets to end the illegal regime constitute an organized state crime against humanity."
It Was Just an Accident was filmed in secret. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Screenplay and Best Foreign Language Film categories. The script was written by four people, including Panahi and Makhmoudian.
The film was inspired by Panahi's last stay in prison. It was there that he met Mahmoudian.
Last fall, Panahi was again sentenced to a year in prison and a two-year ban on leaving Iran after being found guilty of "propaganda against the system." The director, who was traveling abroad with the film, said he would return to Iran despite the sentence.
"It Was Just an Accident is a 2025 Iranian drama film directed and written by Jafar Panahi and produced in cooperation between Iran, France and Luxembourg. The plot revolves around a minor road accident that becomes the impetus for a complex moral drama: a former political prisoner believes he recognizes his former torturer in a random stranger.
The film was shot without official permission from the Iranian authorities under the restrictions imposed on Panama, and is characterized by a restrained form and strong political overtones. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
- As of January 18, it was reported about at least 5000 dead in Iran during the protests that swept the country in late December and were brutally suppressed.
- On January 29, it was reported that in Iran, security forces detain doctors who provided assistance to wounded protesters.
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