Iran Crackdown on Filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof as Cannes Premiere Nears

Mohammad Rasoulof, the acclaimed Iranian director behind the critically acclaimed film “There Is No Evil,” has been sentenced to eight years in prison and lashes by a court in Iran. The punishment comes just before Rasoulof was set to travel to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival to premiere his latest work, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” This is not the first time Rasoulof has faced imprisonment and censorship in his home country, where Western-influenced artistic expression has been deemed a threat to the regime. In 2020, Rasoulof was unable to attend the Berlin International Film Festival to collect the prestigious Golden Bear award for “There Is No Evil” due to a travel ban imposed by Iranian authorities. Shortly after winning the award, Rasoulof was handed a one-year prison sentence for producing three films perceived as being critical of the system. The sentence is linked to statements that Rasoulof signed in solidarity with protesters following the fatal police custody of Mahsa Amini in 2022. The Iranian judicial system’s treatment of prisoners has drawn criticism from human rights organizations worldwide, as trials are typically conducted in secret, without access to counsel or evidence. Fellow Iranian filmmaker Saeed Roustayi and his producer also faced legal repercussions last year for attending the Cannes Film Festival. This escalation in harsh penalties against cultural figures reflects a broader campaign by the Iranian authorities to suppress dissent in the wake of widespread anti-government demonstrations.