Additional Coverage:
- Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Iranian drama ‘It Was Just an Accident’ arrested in Tehran (nbcnews.com)
Oscar-Nominated Screenwriter Arrested in Iran Weeks Before Academy Awards
TEHRAN – Just weeks before the Academy Awards, Mehdi Mahmoudian, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for the Iranian drama “It Was Just an Accident,” was arrested in Tehran on Saturday, representatives for the film announced Sunday. The specific charges against Mahmoudian remain undisclosed.
Mahmoudian’s arrest follows his recent signing of a statement, along with 16 others, that condemned Islamic Republic leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the regime’s violent response to demonstrators. Two other signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were also reportedly arrested.
Jafar Panahi, the acclaimed director of “It Was Just an Accident,” issued a statement Sunday decrying his co-writer’s detention. Panahi described Mahmoudian as “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.” Panahi himself was a signatory to the January 28 statement, which asserted that “The mass and systematic killing of citizens who bravely took to the streets to bring an end to an illegitimate regime constitutes an organized state crime against humanity.”
“It Was Just an Accident,” a revenge drama and the recipient of the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, is nominated for best screenplay and best international film at the upcoming March 15 Oscars. The film, which was covertly produced in Iran and served as France’s nominee for best international film, was inspired by Panahi’s most recent period of imprisonment, where he met Mahmoudian.
Panahi referred to Mahmoudian as “a pillar” for other prisoners. The screenplay for “It Was Just an Accident” was a collaborative effort by Panahi, Mahmoudian, Nader Saeiver, and Shadhmer Rastin.
Panahi, a renowned international filmmaker, has a history of creating films while facing imprisonment, house arrest, and travel bans. Last fall, he was sentenced to a year in prison and issued a two-year travel ban after being convicted of “propaganda activities against the system.” Despite the sentence, Panahi, who has been traveling internationally with the film, has expressed his intention to return to Iran.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S.-based organization that relies on an internal network within Iran for verification, reports that over 6,713 people have been killed and 49,500 detained in the recent government crackdown. The Associated Press has been unable to independently verify these figures due to authorities’ actions to restrict Iran’s internet access from the outside world.
Panahi has consistently spoken out against the crackdown. At the National Board of Review Awards in New York last month, he stated, “As we stand here, the state of Iran is gunning down protesters and a savage massacre continues blatantly on the streets of Iran.
Today the real scene is not on screens but on the streets of Iran. The Islamic Republic has caused a bloodbath to delay its collapse.”