Jafar Panahi Faces Five-Year Prison Sentence in Iran After Releasing ‘It Was Just an Accident’

The Oscar-nominated filmmaker and Palme d'Or winner has also been banned from travel and social media activity for two years, and had assets seized.

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has received a five-year-and-one-month prison sentence in absentia from Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court.

The Oscar-nominated director returned to his home country earlier this year after a global awards push for his thriller “It Was Just an Accident,” which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in May 2025 ahead of a dedicated Academy Awards campaign. Panahi has previously been arrested and imprisoned numerous times by Iranian authorities, and was once placed on house arrest and banned from filmmaking activities.

IndieWire learned of the sentencing from a release by Mansour Jahani, an independent film journalist based in Tehran who has regularly covered the legal repercussions Panahi has faced. According to the report, Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said Panahi was also issued a two-year travel ban and a two-year prohibition on social media activity.

Nili also stated that Panahi’s bank accounts were frozen last week. This prompted a meeting with the Enforced of Judgments Unit at Iran‘s Cultural and Media Prosecutor’s Office, which revealed that Panahi had received his new sentence in absentia. According to Nili, authorities claim they could not reach Panahi because he was abroad, but the filmmaker has been in Iran since returning home in March and even appeared before a different branch of the Office in September. Nili says Panahi had not been notified of a hearing date for the case.

Panahi’s regular legal punishments from Iranian authorities have long run parallel to his position as one of the country’s most prominent representatives in global cinema. He won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival in 2000 for “The Circle,” and the Golden Bear at Berlinale for “Taxi” in 2015.

Panahi often produces his work covertly, incorporating his legal restrictions into his technique and plots. In 2010, the Islamic Revolutionary Court sentenced him to six years’ imprisonment and a 20-year ban from filmmaking. In December 2025, he was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of “propaganda activity” against Iran. Panahi was in the U.S. to promote “It Was Just an Accident” at the time, leading a campaign that yielded Oscar nominations for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay.