Overview
- Mahmoudian, journalist Vida Rabbani and student activist Abdollah Momeni were released after 17 days in custody on conditional bail of 6.5 billion tomans (roughly $10,000) each set by the Revolutionary Court.
- Local reports say the three were held following their signatures on the January "Statement of the Seventeen," which assigns responsibility for protest killings to Iran’s supreme leader and urges a referendum and constituent assembly.
- Filmmaker Jafar Panahi said authorities accused the trio of "insulting the Supreme Leader" and "propaganda against the Islamic Republic," calling the charges a long-used tool to stifle dissent.
- Mahmoudian is the Oscar-nominated co-writer of Panahi’s Palme d’Or–winning film It Was Just an Accident, a connection that has intensified international attention on the case.
- Panahi himself was sentenced in absentia in December to one year in prison, a two-year travel ban and restrictions on group affiliations for alleged propaganda activities.