Sawt Falasteen - Iran filmmaker Panahi says to return home despite prison sentence

The 65-year-old is currently touring to promote his latest Oscar-nominated film "It Was Just an Accident", which won top prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

"Although I was given the opportunity, even in the hardest years, I never considered leaving my country and being a refugee elsewhere," Panahi told an audience at the Marrakech Film Festival, according to Variety magazine.

"One's country is the best place to live, no matter what problems, what difficulties," he added.

Confirming that he planned to travel home, he said he had "only one passport".

Panahi has been jailed twice before and has a history of defying Iran's strict censorship rules.

"It Was Just an Accident" is a wry and provocative challenge to the country's theocratic rulers and their handling of 2022 anti-government "Women, Life, Freedom" protests.

Its plot, about a group of Iranians confronted with a man they believe tortured them in jail, was inspired by conversations Panahi had with fellow detainees while in prison himself from 2022-2023.

Panahi's lawyer Mostafa Nili told AFP on Monday that the filmmaker had been condemned for "propaganda activities" against the state, without elaborating.

The film has been selected by France as its official nomination for the Academy Awards, and is widely expected to make the shortlist for the Best International Feature at the gala event in March.

In Cannes, Panahi insisted that he did not intend to follow in the footsteps of other independent Iranian filmmakers such as Mohammad Rasoulof who have fled the country to escape prison sentences.

"They (the Iranian government) have always stopped us from making films, but we found a way," he told AFP.

"It's typical of regimes like this -- they don't let artists work, they don't let anyone do what they love."

Fellow Iranian directors Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha were given suspended sentences earlier this year for their acclaimed romantic drama "My Favourite Cake", which competed at the 2024 Berlin film festival.

They were convicted of "spreading lies with the intention of disturbing public opinion".

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST