Iran's Revolutionary Court has sentenced award-winning film director Jafar Panahi to five years in prison and ordered the seizure of all his assets. According to sources, the ruling was reported on Wednesday citing his lawyer, though the charges he faced were not disclosed.
The court also barred Panahi from leaving the country for two years and from any social media activity. His lawyer, Mostafa Nili, could not be reached for comment.
Panahi's film It Was Just an Accident won the Palme d'Or, the top prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. He has been arrested several times in the past over his filmmaking. In 2025 he was sentenced in absentia to one year in prison for propaganda against the system, yet he returned to Iran in March.
With one of Iranian cinema's best-known figures facing prison again, the film world is now watching whether the ruling will be appealed.