Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi Sentenced to Five Years in Absentia

WHO:

Variety - Jafar Panahi is an Iranian filmmaker, Cannes Palme d’Or winner, and the subject of the reported prison sentence.

Variety - Mostafa Nili is Panahi’s lawyer.

Variety - Emtedad News Agency is an online Iranian reformist media outlet that reported the ruling.

Deadline - Jafar Panahi is a Cannes Palme d’Or winner and Oscar nominee.

Reddit Movies - The post was submitted by Reddit user /u/WeShallMateNow.

WHAT:

Variety - A Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Panahi to five years and one month in prison in a separate ruling, in addition to a previous one-year conviction.

Variety - Panahi was facing a one-year prison sentence before the separate five-year-and-one-month ruling.

Reddit Movies - The post states that Panahi was sentenced in absentia and faces five years’ imprisonment in Iran.

Deadline - Local media reported that Panahi had received a five-year sentence.

WHERE:

Variety - The court that issued the separate ruling was a Tehran Revolutionary Court.

Reddit Movies - The post says Panahi faces imprisonment in Iran.

Deadline - Panahi had spent time outside Iran while attending awards events.

WHEN:

Deadline - The article says Panahi spent much of 2025 and early 2026 outside Iran on the awards trail for *It Was Just Sent An Accident*.

HOW:

Variety - Emtedad News Agency reported the separate sentence; Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, spoke to the outlet.

(UPDATED October 27, 2026 23:12 UTC)

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, a Cannes Palme d’Or winner and Oscar nominee, has been sentenced by a Tehran Revolutionary Court to five years and one month in prison. The ruling is separate from a previous one-year conviction, and Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, spoke to Emtedad News Agency, which reported the sentence. Panahi had spent much of 2025 and early 2026 outside Iran while attending awards events for *It Was Just Sent An Accident*.