Jafar Panahi Sentenced to Five Years and One Month in Separate Ruling

Marcus Bennett

A Tehran Revolutionary Court has sentenced Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi to five years and one month in prison in a separate case, according to Emtedad News Agency, an online Iranian reformist outlet. The new ruling comes as Panahi already faces a one-year prison sentence.

Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, told Emtedad that the court sentenced his client in absentia. Nili said implementation of both rulings is discretionary. He said the order also provides for the confiscation of Panahi’s assets. It imposes a two-year social media ban and a two-year travel ban.

What does the new ruling change?

The separate ruling expands the legal exposure for Panahi, but it leaves the underlying charges and the timing of any enforcement under the new judgment unresolved. Emtedad reported that the authorities did not specify the charges in this case. Nili said implementation of both rulings remains discretionary.

Nili said Panahi’s bank accounts were suddenly frozen “last week.” After that freeze, the lawyer and his client went to the prosecutor’s office in Tehran. There, they learned of the in-absentia verdict. Nili said the case file described Panahi as living outside Iran.

Yet the same report placed Panahi back in Iran on March 30, 2026, shortly after the ceremony for the 98th Academy Awards. His latest film, It Was Just an Accident, had made it to the nomination stage as France’s candidate in the Best International Feature Film Category.

Nili’s account therefore places an official file at odds with the director’s physical return, although Emtedad did not explain how the verdict was reached. The report also did not identify the specific charges.

Two decades of restrictions

Over the previous two decades, Emtedad said, Panahi had frequent run-ins with Iranian authorities. The outlet identified him as a Cannes Palme d’Or winner and listed The Circle, Offside, This is Not a Film, Taxi and No Bears among his prize-winning, internationally known work.

In 2010, Iranian authorities banned Panahi from making films, speaking to the press and traveling, according to Emtedad. The outlet reported that he continued to make movies surreptitiously despite the restrictions.

Panahi was arrested in 2022 in connection with protests by a group of filmmakers, according to Emtedad. He was released about seven months later.

Emtedad reported that Iranian authorities lifted the ban in April 2023. They allowed him to travel to Cannes to launch It Was Just an Accident. Panahi subsequently traveled widely to promote the drama.

According to Emtedad, It Was Just an Accident centers on an outpouring of strong feelings by a group of former prisoners toward a torturous guard. The report said the film’s premise stems from Panahi’s own incarceration.

Why Panahi returned

Panahi returned to Iran even though he faced the one-year sentence and what Emtedad called a climate of escalating tension. The report said that climate made his return very risky.

Panahi told Variety: “I am the kind of person who needs to be in his country. I need to breathe there and work there. And even if they want to go ahead with that prison sentence, they can go ahead. Nothing will change my mind about going back.”

His return places him in Iran after the court issued a second sentence. What happens next depends on discretionary enforcement, the unresolved charges and the practical effect of the asset freeze and two-year bans. Until Nili clarifies the charges and enforcement position, Panahi’s insistence on working at home remains exposed to the legal risk he accepted.