Iran sentences award-winning director to prison ahead of Cannes
Fox News
Iranian authorities sentence director Mohammad Rasoulof, best known for "There Is No Evil," to prison and lashings prior to traveling to the Cannes film festival.
Iranian authorities haven't acknowledged the sentence but Rasoulof and other artists had co-signed a letter urging authorities to "put your gun down" amid demonstrations over a 2022 building collapse that killed at least 29 people in the southwestern city of Abadan. In the time since then, artists, athletes, celebrities and others have been called for questioning or faced prison sentences.
"This judgment is issued due to Mr. Rasoulof signing statements in support of the Iranian people," his lawyer Babak Paknia told the AP. He said that those statements, along with his tweets and further social activities, were found to be instances of ‘action against national security.’