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One of the Oscar-nominated screenwriters of the Iranian play It Was Just an Accident has been arrested successful Tehran conscionable weeks earlier the Academy Awards.
Representatives for the movie connected Sunday said that Mehdi Mahmoudian was arrested Saturday. No details connected the charges against Mahmoudian were available. But his apprehension came conscionable days aft Mahmoudian and 16 others signed a connection condemning Islamic Republic person Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the regime's convulsive crackdown connected demonstrators.
Two different signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were besides arrested.
Jafar Panahi, the prize-winning manager of It Was Just an Accident, issued a connection Sunday decrying his co-writer's arrest.
“Mehdi Mahmoudian is not conscionable a human-rights activistic and a captive of conscience; helium is simply a witness, a listener, and a uncommon motivation beingness — a beingness whose lack is instantly felt, some wrong situation walls and beyond them," Panahi said.
Panahi was besides a signatory connected the Jan. 28 statement. It reads successful part: “The wide and systematic sidesplitting of citizens who bravely took to the streets to bring an extremity to an illegitimate authorities constitutes an organized authorities transgression against humanity.”
It Was Just an Accident is nominated for champion screenplay and champion planetary movie astatine the March 15 Oscars. The film, made covertly successful Iran, was France's nominee for champion planetary film.
Panahi, 1 of the astir acclaimed planetary filmmakers, has made films done assorted states of imprisonment, location apprehension and question ban. “It Was Just an Accident," a revenge play and the Palme d'Or-winner astatine past year's Cannes Film Festival, was inspired by Panahi's astir caller stint successful prison. It was determination that helium met Mahmoudian. Panahi called him “a pillar” to different prisoners.
It Was Just An Accident was written by Panahi, Mahmoudian, Nader Saeiver and Shadhmer Rastin.
Last fall, Panahi was again sentenced to a twelvemonth successful situation and fixed a two-year prohibition connected leaving Iran aft being convicted connected charges of “propaganda activities against the system.” Panahi, who has been traveling internationally with the film, has said helium volition instrumentality to Iran contempt the sentence.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists New Agency, which relies connected a web wrong Iran to verify its information, says that much than 6,713 radical person been killed and 49,500 radical person been detained successful the caller authorities crackdown. The Associated Press has been incapable to independently measure the decease toll and apprehension figures, fixed authorities person chopped Iran’s net disconnected from the remainder of the world.
Panahi has repeatedly spoken retired against the crackdown.
“As we basal here, the authorities of Iran is gunning down protesters and a savage massacre continues blatantly connected the streets of Iran,” Panahi said past period astatine the National Board of Review Awards successful New York. “Today the existent country is not connected screens but connected the streets of Iran. The Islamic Republic has caused a bloodbath to hold its collapse.”
