UPDATED, January 2, 2026: Jafar Panahi and his legal team will formally launch their legal appeal on January 4 against the one-year prison sentence and two-year travel ban the filmmaker was handed by the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court on Monday, December 1, 2025, Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran.
The court sentenced Mr. Jafar Panahi in absentia to one-year in prison and a two-year ban on leaving the country, as well as a ban on membership in political and social groups or factions, for propaganda activities against the regime. It is unclear if the lauded filmmaker will appear in court.
Our original story from December 1, 2025 follows:
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, currently in the United States to support the awards campaign and theatrical release for his “It Was Just an Accident,” has received a prison sentence in absentia.
As IndieWire learned from journalist Mansour Jahani, Panahi was sentenced to one year in prison and a two-year ban from leaving Iran, as well as a ban on membership in any political or social groups. IndieWire confirmed the news with a source close to Panahi.
Per Jahani, who sent a dispatch to journalists, “On Monday, December 1, 2025, attorney Mustafa Nili wrote on his social media X: Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced Mr. Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and a two-year ban on leaving the country, as well as a ban on membership in political and social groups or factions, for propaganda activities against the regime. We will take the necessary legal steps to appeal this ruling.”
The specific charges were not revealed at this time, though Panahi has a history of arrests related to alleged propaganda against the Islamic Republic.
IndieWire is seeking confirmation as to when Panahi is scheduled to return to Iran, as we understand he is not being extradited. He just completed, for the first time, a U.S. tour, visiting cities including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Chicago. He is next slated to attend the Marrakech Film Festival.
Panahi, who won the Palme d’Or this year for French Oscar contender “It Was Just an Accident,” was sentenced to six years’ prison time in 2010 and has had various legal issues in Iran ever since. He was arrested in 2022 after completing “No Bears” and was not released until February 2023 after initiating a hunger strike at Evin prison. The circumstances of his imprisonment and confinement inspired the making of “It Was Just an Accident,” which centers on an Azerbaijani auto mechanic who believes he has found his former torturer. Like all of Panahi’s recent films, it was made illegally without a permit in Iran.
We’ve reached out to “It Was Just an Accident” distributor Neon for clarity on the implications for Panahi’s current travel and awards campaigning.
