The arrest of screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian in Tehran has renewed attention on Iran’s broader crackdown as the Oscar season approaches, with the film “It Was Just an Accident” among the nominees for major awards. Representatives for the film said Mahmoudian was arrested Saturday, just weeks before the Academy Awards, according to the Associated Press.
The film’s director and co-writer, Jafar Panahi, issued a statement Sunday criticizing Mahmoudian’s detention. Panahi said Mahmoudian “is not just a human-rights activist and a prisoner of conscience; he is a witness, a listener, and a rare moral presence — a presence whose absence is immediately felt, both inside prison walls and beyond them,” adding that Mahmoudian’s absence is felt “beyond them.”
Panahi linked the arrest to recent advocacy connected to protests and state violence. The Associated Press reported that Mahmoudian’s arrest came days after he and 16 others signed a statement condemning Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the regime’s violent crackdown on demonstrators. The report said two other signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were also arrested.
In the same statement, Panahi said the mass and systematic killing of citizens who “bravely took to the streets” to end what the statement called an “illegitimate regime” amounts to “an organized state crime against humanity,” according to a passage quoted by the Associated Press. Panahi himself was among the signatories, and the Associated Press reported he joined the statement dated Jan. 28.
“It Was Just an Accident,” a drama made covertly in Iran, was nominated for best screenplay and best international film at the March 15 Oscars, the Associated Press reported. The Associated Press said the film was France’s nominee for best international film, and described the movie’s connection to Panahi’s experiences in prison, including meetings with Mahmoudian while Panahi served a prior term.
The Associated Press also said Panahi has faced restrictions and convictions over the years and was most recently sentenced last fall to a year in prison and given a two-year travel ban after being convicted on charges of “propaganda activities against the system.” The report said Panahi, who had been traveling internationally with the film, has said he will return to Iran despite the sentence.
Beyond the artistic and legal complications around Mahmoudian’s arrest, the Associated Press noted continuing difficulty verifying the scale of Iran’s crackdown because of internet access disruptions. The Associated Press said Human Rights Activists New Agency, which relies on a network inside Iran to verify information, says that more than 6,713 people have been killed and 49,500 have been detained, while the Associated Press said it was unable to independently assess those figures because authorities have cut Iran off from the rest of the world.
Panahi has repeatedly spoken out against the crackdown, the Associated Press said, including a remark last month at the National Board of Review Awards in New York. Panahi said: “As we stand here, the state of Iran is gunning down protesters and a savage massacre continues blatantly on the streets of Iran,” and he added that “The Islamic Republic has caused a bloodbath to delay its collapse.”