Mohammad Rasoulof Released After 6 Months of Imprisonment
An award-winning filmmaker from Iran has been released after being detained for more than six months for criticizing the government. Mohammad Rasoulof was detained in July for objecting to the government’s suppression of rallies in the city of Abadan, located in the southwest, following a fatal building collapse. Nationwide demonstrations started two months later after a 22-year-old woman passed away while being held by the country’s morality police.
Iranian independent filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof was born in Persia on November 16, 1972. His debut film, The Twilight (2002), as well as Iron Island (2005), Manuscripts Don’t Burn (2013), and There Is No Evil are among the numerous accolade-winning productions he is renowned for (2020). His films’ nature and content have caused him to run afoul of the Iranian government, and as a result, he has been detained numerous times and had his passport seized.
Mohammad Rasoulof is one of several well-known artists, athletes, and other celebrities who have been jailed recently for speaking out against the government. His 2020 film, “There is No Evil,” earned the top award at the Berlin International Film Festival .Without giving dates or any other details, the Shargh daily, which is connected to the nation’s reform movement, reported that Rasoulof had lately been granted a furlough from jail and had been legally released. Nothing official was said.
Famous filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was detained in July and started a hunger strike to protest “the illegal and inhumane behavior” of Iran’s judiciary and security forces, which have led a brutal and occasionally fatal crackdown on unrest following the death of a young woman while in police custody for allegedly wearing a headscarf improperly, was freed by Iran earlier this month. Taraneh Alidoosti, an Iranian actress, was also released by the authorities after being jailed for criticizing the suppression of the most recent rallies.
Iranians protested in the streets after Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish Iranian lady who was held by the morality police for allegedly breaking the nation’s strict Islamic dress code, died in September. One of the largest challenges the nation’s governing clerics have faced since taking power in the 1979 revolution was presented by the protests, which turned into demands for their removal.
Human Rights Activists in Iran, an organization that has closely followed the turmoil, estimates that since those protests started, at least 529 people have died and almost 20,000 have been detained. Official counts of individuals slain or detained by Iranian officials have not been made public.
In 2020, “There Is No Evil,” The four stories explore how moral fortitude and the death penalty vary from one another, asking to what degree personal freedom can be expressed in the face of a dictatorial government and its ominous threats, at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, where it made its global premiere, it was awarded the Golden Bear. Due to a travel ban he was subject to from Iranian authorities, Rasoulof was not there to accept the award.
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