Filmmaker Jafar Panahi and Several Families Seeking Justice Arrested in Latest Crackdown in Iran

Prominent Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was arrested by security forces in Tehran on July 11. At the time of writing, there is no information available on the reason for his arrest or whereabouts.

His arrest comes three days after filmmakers and human rights defenders Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-Ahmad were also arrested by security forces. According to state media, they were arrested for signing the May 29 statement from 100 cinematographers addressed to the country’s armed forces whom they accused of “turning into the agents of people’s oppression” and asked them to lay down their arms and “return to the arms of the nation.”

On the same day, several families seeking justice for the death of their loved ones in the November 2019 nationwide protests were arrested. According to reports shared on social media, Rahimeh Yousefzadeh, Navid Behboudi’s mother, Mahboubeh Ramezani, Pejman Gholipour’s mother, Sakineh Ahmadi, Ebrahim Ketabdar’s mother, Mohammad Taheri’s mother, Mehrdad Moeinifar’s mother, Vahid Damvar’s brother, Vahid Damvar, Pouya Bakhtiari’s mother, Nahid Shirpisheh and his uncle, Mehrdad Bakhtiari, and several other family members were arrested.

The IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency reported the arrest of what it called “elements carrying out orders of foreign and anti-revolutionary contacts.”

It quoted an informed source as saying: “The detainees had contact with foreign spy services under the guise of seeking justice and were receiving money from a foreign source to cause chaos and insecurity in the country.”

Following the November 2019 nationwide protests which have become known as Bloody Aban (the 8th month in the Iranian calendar when the protests took place), family members of protesters killed by security forces started speaking out and demanding justice. The mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who have demanded justice have faced reprisal including imprisonment, harassment and coercive pressure.

You can read about some of the families who have faced reprisals for seeking justice for their loved ones in Iran Human Rights’ 2021 Iran Human Rights Defender Report.