
State of Civil Society in Iran
October 25, 2010
Legalizing the Murder of Civil Society
November 30, 2010On November 12, 2010, Jafar Panahi found himself in court defending his work as a filmmaker. From a summary of his statement published in English on Rooz Online:
“The assassination of ideas and sterilizing artists of a society has only one result: killing the roots of art and creativity. Arresting my colleagues and I while shooting an unfinished film is nothing but an attack by those in power on all the artists of this land. It drives this crystal clear however sad message home: ‘You will repent if you don’t think like us.’”
In December Panahi was sentenced to a six year prison-term and a 20-year ban on film-making.