USA/IRAN:Actors go to UN demanding Iran release jailed director

Hollywood petition calls for repeal of Jafar Panahi’s six-year sentence for making anti-regime propagand

• Saeed Kamali Dehghan
• Quelle: guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 June 2011 15.26 BST

Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi at the Edinburgh international film festival in 2003. Hollywood supporters are pressing the UN to demand his release from jail. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Hollywood stars including Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon are launching a campaign with Amnesty International calling for the release of the acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi, who has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Panahi, who angered the government by supporting Iran’s opposition green movement, is also banned from directing and producing films for 20 years after being found guilty in December of making propaganda against the regime.

Amnesty International said a group of campaigners would deliver to the UN in New York tens of thousands of signatures including from Penn, Sarandon, Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott demanding Panahi’s conviction be overturned.

About 20,000 people have signed the petition, along with Iranians including film director Mohsen Makhmalbaf, pop singer Googoosh, academics Hamid Dabashi and Azar Nafisi, and previously imprisoned journalists Roxana Saberi and Maziar Bahari.

Campaigners intend to hold a rally in New York outside the UN offices attended by Oscar-winning film-maker Paul Haggis. They will symbolically rename a nearby New York street plaza „Azadi Square“ (freedom square) after the rallying point in Tehran where thousands gathered in protest after the disputed 2009 election.

Panahi won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 1995 for The White Balloon. Attempts by the Iranian authorities to silence him were initially highlighted by the French actor Juliette Binoche who held up his name at the 2010 Cannes festival in protest at his arrest. Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola also condemned it.

Another Iranian film-maker, Mohammad Rasoulof, was arrested with Panahi in February 2010 and given six years‘ jail. Both have since been repeatedly honoured at prestigious film festivals including Berlin and Cannes.

Parviz Jahed, an Iranian director and critic, said that despite the regime’s severe crackdown on their industry, film-makers continued to work. „Independent film-makers in Iran have always been subjected to censorship and intense pressure from the authorities. In spite of, or perhaps as a result of this, they have always managed to persevere to an extent and achieve recognition for independent Iranian cinema on an international scale,“ he said.

Larry Cox, Amnesty’s US executive director, said: „Imagine your government telling you that you cannot work, speak your mind or express your beliefs – or you will be thrown in prison. This is the ordeal that Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof suffer every day. These two men are being persecuted; it is simply wrong and we must speak up against Iran’s actions.“

Iran:Langjährige Haftstrafe gegen Blogger bestätigt

Trotz internationaler Proteste hat ein Gericht in Teheran die Verurteilung des iranisch-kanadischen Bloggers Hossein Derakhshan zu einer Freiheitsstrafe von neunzehneinhalb Jahren bestätigt. Das meldeten Websites der iranischen Opposition am Mittwoch.

Derakhshan war im November 2008 festgenommen worden und wird seither im Iran festgehalten. Ihm wird unter anderem ein Israel-Besuch im Jahre 2008 zur Last gelegt, was im Iran als schwere Straftat geahndet wird. Das Außenministerium in Teheran hatte darauf verwiesen, dass der Iran doppelte Staatsangehörigkeiten nicht anerkenne und der Blogger deshalb vor Gericht wie ein Iraner und nicht wie ein kanadischer Staatsbürger behandelt werde. Die Anklage hatte wegen Spionage für Israel die Todesstrafe gefordert. Ein Gericht verurteilte Derakhshan schließlich im vergangenen September zu neunzehneinhalb Jahren Haft.

Fotostream von IRAN GREEN POSTER

Schweden: Abschiebung in den Iran – Låt Marzyeh Kamangar Stanna!

Från: Iranska Flyktingarnas Riksförbund i Sverige

2011-05-30
Till: Migrationsverket
Ärende: Om Marziye Kamangar iransk asylsökande
Ärende nr. 11-240432

Härmed skulle vi informera er att polisen i Stockholm har arresterat Marziye Kmangar och hon riskerar att deporteras till Iran. Härmed skulle vi informera Migrationsverket att många iranier från Sverige och även utomlands har kontaktat IFR och visat sin oro över Marziye Kamangars öde redan från första timmarna som hon blev gripen. Denna oro har en mycket riktigt grund, alla de som känner familj och släkten Kamangar, vet hur utsatta de har varit på grund av regimens förföljelse och trakasserier i de senaste 30 åren. Under gångna åren har de förlorat 15 familjemedlemmar i kampen mot islamiska regimen. Det senaste var Frazad Kamangar som avrättades föra året. Marziyes far som heter Mohammad Kamangar och två av hennes farbröder som heter Habibollah och Abdollah Kamangar har också förlorat sina liv i kampen mot islamiska regimen i Iran. Många av släkt och familjen har flyt till olika Europeiska länder och sökt asyl.