Award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has been sentenced to eight years in prison nad lashings, just ahead of his planned trip to the Cannes film festival for the premiere of his new film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”
Rasoulof, renowned for his 2020 film “There Is No Evil,” has become the latest victim of the Iranian regime’s crackdown on artists implicated in voicing dissent against the regime after the 2022 mass protests against the custodial death of Mahsa Amini.
Rasoulof was sentenced by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, which has been oft criticized for not allowing the accused of choosing their own trial lawyers or even view the evidence used by the prosecution.
Rasoulof faces lashings, fines and asset seizures, according to his lawyer Babak Paknia. In a statement on X, Paknia said that the court deemed Rasoulof’s work to be “examples of collusion with the intention of committing a crime against the security of the country.”
“There Is No Evil” is a compendium of four loosely joined narratives that revolve around the death penalty in Iran. The film won the Golden Bear prize at the Berlin film festival in 2020. Rasoulof could not attend to collect his prize due to travel restrictions placed on him by the authorities in Iran. An earlier film by Rasoulof, “A Man of Integrity” explored the problem of corruption in Iran, and was recognized for “Certain Regard” at the Cannes film festival in 2017.
After the film was given the award, Rasoulof was sentenced to a year in prison for his films being deemed “propaganda against the system.”
Despite Iran having become known on the international film circuit for poignant cinema, Iran’s artists have routinely been subject to state repression.
Filmmaker Saeed Roustayi faced legal action last year after he showed “Leila’s Brothers” at Cannes last year.