Cinema director Maryam Ebrahimvand sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison
The Civil Service Court sentenced writer and director Maryam Ebrahimvand to 10 years and six months in prison. The director was convicted for making films that had previously been licensed by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
The 10-year and six-month sentence for Maryam Ebrahimvand, a writer, director, and film producer, at the height of the coronavirus outbreak raised concerns in the country's cultural circles.
HRANA, the news agency of the Human Rights Activists Association in Iran, wrote in its latest report on Maryam Ebrahimvand that the court has deemed the films made by the 29-year-old director “vulgar.” Two of the films made by the director have been licensed by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In its ruling, the court cited the film "Girls' Boarding House" (a film with a critical look at the issue of rape of girls in Iran) and the film "September 24" (a narrative of the Mina incident in Saudi Arabia) by this cinema director.
HRANA wrote that the verdict was issued by the Government Employees Court in Branch 1059, presided over by Judge Ali Qanbarnia, and was notified to the defense lawyer of the cinema director on Saturday, November 1, 2020.
Maryam Ebrahimvand has been sentenced to seven years in prison for the charge of “making a vulgar film,” one year in prison for the charge of “insulting the president,” and two years in prison for the charge of “spreading lies against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the intention of disturbing public opinion.”
On the other hand, in another part of her case, Ms. Ebrahimvand was sentenced to six months in prison by Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court on charges of "propaganda against the system." This sentence was consolidated in the final verdict in the Government Employees Court, and she was sentenced to a total of 10 years and six months in prison.
In issuing its ruling, the court did not take into account the Ministry of Cultural Heritage's permission to produce this director's films.
In the indictment against the director on the charge of "insulting the president," the court considered Ms. Ebrahimvand's remarks in a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to be "slandering the president's image" and cited them as evidence of this charge.
The charge of "spreading lies against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with the intention of disturbing public opinion" also refers to a post published on Maryam Ebrahimvand's personal Instagram page, which states that the IRGC's behavior increases pressure on young people and encourages them to emigrate abroad.
HRANA has emphasized that if the verdict is upheld in the appeal stage, by applying Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, the harshest punishment, namely seven years in prison, can be applied to this director on the charge of "making a vulgar film."
Maryam Ebrahimvand was previously detained in Ward 2A of the Revolutionary Guards and is currently imprisoned in Qarchak Prison in Varamin.
HRANA stated in its report that he went on a hunger strike in May 2020 to protest against “uncertainty,” “lack of access to a lawyer,” and “interference by security agencies in the proceedings.”
According to HRANA, the director attempted suicide by taking pills in the women's ward of Evin Prison on Friday, September 19 of this year. After being transferred to Loghman Hospital in Tehran, he was returned to Evin Prison the next day.
It is worth noting that directors such as Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi had previously been sentenced to prison, but Maryam Ebrahimvand is the first Iranian female director to be sentenced to a long-term sentence.
Source: DW
