Jafar Panahi is on hunger strike to protest his continued detention in Iran’s notorious Evin prison

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has gone on hunger strike to protest his continued detention in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, despite his sentence being overturned by the country’s Supreme Court.

The move comes days after hopes of bail for the director were dashed, despite his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht successfully filing for his detention.

Panahi’s wife Tahereh Saeedi and son Panah Panahi released a statement from the director on Wednesday night announcing that he intends to stop eating on their Instagram accounts.

“I strongly declare that I have been on hunger strike since the morning of Bahman 12 (February 1) in protest against the illegal and inhuman behavior of the judicial and security apparatus and their hostages,” Panahi wrote.

“I will refuse to eat and drink food and medicine until my release. I will remain in this state until perhaps my lifeless body is released from prison.”

The director was arrested in early July in a crackdown on freedom of expression after he went to Evin prison to inquire about the whereabouts of filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad, who were detained a few days earlier .

A few days later, it was announced that the Iranian authorities had decided to reinstate a six-year prison sentence originally handed down to Panahi in 2010, as well as a 20-year film and travel ban.

The charges and the verdict relate to his presence at the funeral of a student who was shot dead during the Green Revolution in 2009 and his later attempt to make a film about the uprising.

The director of the white balloon, The circle And taxi has not left Iran since the verdict and was temporarily under house arrest during that time.

Nikbakht successfully argued before the Supreme Court in October that the six-year sentence exceeded Iran’s ten-year statute of limitations and no longer applied.

He was allowed to seek a new trial in a lawsuit that should have led to Panahi’s automatic release, but Iranian authorities have so far obstructed the process of starting such a case.

“Although we have seen that it takes less than thirty days from the arrest to the hanging of innocent youths of our country, it took more than a hundred days to transfer my case to the department with the intervention of the security forces,” said Panahi wrote. .

The director said the Iranian authorities have repeatedly apologized for not releasing him.

“What is certain is that the violent and illegal behavior of the security apparatus and the reckless capitulation of the judiciary once again demonstrate the implementation of selective and tasteful legislation,” he wrote.

“This is just a pretext for oppression. I knew the justice system and security agencies had no will to enforce the law (which they brag about), but out of respect for my lawyers and friends, I went through all legal channels to fight for my rights,” he continued. .

“Today, like many people trapped in Iran, I have no choice but to use my most precious possession, my life, to protest this inhumane behavior.”

Panahi’s detention preceded Iran’s “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising sparked by the killing of Mahsa Amini while in police custody on September 16 for not wearing her hijab in accordance with Iran’s religion-based law .

Since then, thousands of protesters have been arrested as the Islamic Republic’s government has tried to use force to quell the protests and recently began executing protesters.

So far, at least four young men have been executed for their role in the protests and another 100 people have reportedly been sentenced to death on protest charges.