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Vol. 74/No. 23      June 14, 2010

 
Iranian filmmaker
released from jail
 
BY CINDY JAQUITH  
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi won release from jail May 25. The internationally known director posted $200,000 bail and will face charges for making an “anti-regime” film about the protests for democratic rights that swept Iran following last year’s June 12 elections. Panahi has won awards for such films as Offside, about Iranian women who disguise themselves as men in order to get into a soccer match; The Circle; and The White Balloon.

Arrested in February, Panahi began a hunger strike May 16. His case won broad international support, but also public support inside Iran, where defense cases of those jailed for their political views are rarely given publicity.

Mehdi Karroubi, one of the candidates in last year’s presidential elections and a prominent leader of the bourgeois liberal opposition to the regime, visited Panahi after he was released and called for the freedom of all political prisoners in Iran. The “White Scarves,” a group of Iranian women who campaign to win the right of women to watch public sports events of their choice, also visited Panahi.

Meanwhile, the Tehran police chief announced that the government would deal harshly with any “illegal” protests to commemorate the June 12 anniversary. Both Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, also part of the bourgeois opposition, have applied for a permit to march that day.
 
 
Related articles:
Iran readers seek books on revolution in U.S.
Workers protest for jobs in Iranian port city  
 
 
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