Mehdi Mahmoudian, co-writer of Jafar Panahi’s Oscar-nominated It Was Just An Accident, has been arrested in Tehran, Iran after signing a statement condemning the actions of the country’s leader Ali Khameni.
Two other signatories – journalist and human rights campaigner Vida Rabbani, and activist Abdullah Momeni – have also been arrested.
Jafar Panahi’s full statement in response to the arrest is written below
At time of writing there is no confirmation of the arresting authority or the charges against those detained.
The three are among 17 signatories to the statement, which stated that ‘Khamenei is responsible for these horrific times in Iran.’
Further signatories include Panahi, who Screen has confirmed is currently in Europe, and is scheduled to attend the Oscar nominees luncheon in Los Angeles on February 10, where he will try to raise awareness of the situation in Iran.
Panahi was handed a prison sentence in absentia in December last year on the charge of propaganda against the Iranian system. The Seed Of The Sacred Fig director Mohammad Rasoulof, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, and Nasrin Sotoudeh, winner of the Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought, have also signed the statement.
It Was Just An Accident won the Palme d’Or on debut in Competition at Cannes Film Festival in May last year. It has been nominated for two Oscars, for best international feature film; and for best original screenplay, for which the nominees are Panahi, in collaboration with Nader Saivar, Shadmehr Rastin, and Mahmoudian.
France’s mk2 Films handles sales on the title, which has sold widely, with Mubi taking several territories including the US and UK-Ireland.
Panahi has responded to Mahmoudian’s arrest via a statement, in which he recalls meeting Mahmoudian in prison, and beginning to work on the Accident screenplay shortly after the writer’s release.
“Mehdi Mahmoudian is not just a human rights activist and a prisoner of conscience; he is a witness, a listener, and a rare moral presence—a presence whose absence is immediately felt, both inside prison walls and beyond them,” said Panahi.
Several years of anti-government protests from Iranian citizens have recently been met with a deadly crackdown from the authoritarian regime. The BBC has reported that hundreds of citizens have been killed in the protests, as of last week.
Jafar Panahi’s statement in response to Mehdi Mahmoudian’s arrest
”I met Mehdi Mahmoudian in prison. From the very first days, he stood out—not only because of his calm demeanor and kind conduct but also because of a rare sense of responsibility toward others. Whenever a new prisoner arrived, Mehdi would try to provide them with basic necessities and, more importantly, offer reassurance. He became a quiet pillar inside the prison—someone inmates of all beliefs and backgrounds trusted and confided in.
We spent seven months behind bars together. A few months after his release, while I was working on the screenplay for It Was Just an Accident, I asked him to help refine the dialogue. His nine years of imprisonment had given him direct, lived knowledge of the judicial system and prison life. Also, his extensive fieldwork in human rights had made him a reliable and authoritative source for consultation.
I remember during the shooting of It Was Just an Accident, we filmed the thirteen-minute shot of tying the interrogator to a tree one night, from dusk to dawn, but it didn’t turn out right. The following night, I brought Mehdi to the set to help, drawing on his understanding of interrogators and the fine details we needed to get right. That night, with Mehdi’s help, we finally succeeded in capturing the shot.
Forty-eight hours before his arrest, we spoke on the phone and then exchanged a few messages. I sent him my last message at four in the morning. By noon the next day, there was no reply. I grew worried and contacted mutual friends; none of them had heard from him. A few hours later, BBC Persian officially announced that Mehdi Mahmoudian, along with Abdollah Momeni and Vida Rabbani, had been arrested.
Mehdi Mahmoudian is not just a human rights activist and a prisoner of conscience; he is a witness, a listener, and a rare moral presence—a presence whose absence is immediately felt, both inside prison walls and beyond them.” — Jafar Panahi
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