Overview
- A Tehran Revolutionary Court rejected Panahi's appeal on Sunday and upheld the December conviction that carries a one-year prison term and a two-year ban on leaving Iran, his lawyer said.
- The indictment cited the clandestine 2025 film Un simple accident, Panahi's public support for dissidents and political prisoners, and his backing of the Femme, Vie, Liberté protest movement as grounds for the 'propaganda' charge.
- Panahi returned to Iran on March 30 despite the in-absentia conviction, a move that leaves him at immediate risk of enforcement now that the appeal has been denied.
- The appeal was heard by Judge Iman Afshari, a magistrate known for heavy sentences against opponents who is the subject of European Union sanctions, a fact that heightens diplomatic sensitivity.
- Rights groups and foreign governments are likely to increase scrutiny because the case ties artistic work and political speech to criminal penalties, and the ruling may affect other cultural figures and critics inside Iran.