Oscar-Nominated Iranian Director Jafar Panahi Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
Islamabad, 28 October, 2026 (Nosheen): Oscar-nominated Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been sentenced in absentia to five years and one month in prison by an Islamic Revolutionary Court in Iran, according to media reports. Panahi was outside Iran at the time, promoting his film It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and received an Oscar nomination in the Best International Feature category, representing France. According to his lawyer, Mostafa Nili, Panahi’s bank accounts were frozen last week. The filmmaker and his lawyer reportedly learned of the new ruling while visiting the Enforcement of Judgments unit at the Culture and Media Prosecutor’s Office, where they were informed that the sentence had been issued in absentia without prior l...





