Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof, who was detained in July for criticizing the crackdown on anti-government protests that have swept across the country, has been released from Iranian custody, the AP reported on Monday. The agency cited local newspaper Shargh.
The director was detained after he criticized the brutal suppression of social protests in the south-western city of Anadan, which took place after a building collapsed. Two months later, protests, this time related to the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the “morality police”, swept the country.
According to the local Iranian newspaper Shargh, director Mohammad Rasoulof has been released from custody.
Mohammad Rasoulof is the author of the film “Evil Does Not Exist”, about the death penalty in Iranwhich won the 2020 top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Also other productions of the Iranian director were appreciated at the most important film festivals in the world. Among other things, Rasoulof was awarded three times at the Cannes International Film Festival in the “Un Certain Regard” section. His film “Pożegnanie” (2011) received the award for the best director, “Manuscripts Don’t Burn” (2013) received the FIPRESCI Award, and he received the Grand Prize in this section for “An Honest Man” (2017).
Mohammad RasoulofIAN LANGSDON/PAP/EPA
Violent protests in Iran
According to the HRANA news agency, around 20,000 people have been arrested in connection with anti-government protests sparked in September by the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police. After being detained for “inappropriate headgear”, the woman mysteriously fell into a coma and died in hospital.
Protest against the conservative regime in IranGetty Images
The security forces began a violent crackdown on the protests, and as a result, according to HRAN, 528 demonstrators, including 71 minors, were killed.
On Saturday, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners, including many arrested in anti-government protests, according to official media
Main photo source: IAN LANGSDON/PAP/EPA