Iranian screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian, nominated for an Oscar for the film It Was Just An Accidentwas detained in Tehran for signing a statement condemning the actions of Iran’s supreme leader, the North American press reported this Monday, February 2nd.
Citing sources from the film’s distributor in the United States, Neon, the North American magazine Hollywood Reporter reported that the Iranian was detained along with two other people, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, who also signed the letter contesting the actions of ‘ayatollah’ Ali Khamenei.
Among the signatories of the document are also the filmmaker Jafar Panahi, director of the film, who is in the United States on a promotional tour, and the director Mohammad Rasoulof, exiled in Germany, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Narges Mohammadi, and Sakharov, Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Iranian authorities have not yet confirmed the arrest or provided details about the charges against those detained, the Hollywood Reporter said.
No document, signatories criticize Khamenei for “authorizing the large-scale and systematic murder of citizens” during the repression of anti-government demonstrations that have occurred in the Islamic Republic in recent weeks.
“The large-scale and systematic murder of citizens who courageously took to the streets to put an end to an illegitimate regime constitutes an organized State crime against humanity”, highlighted the joint statement, which denounces the use of ammunition against civilians, homicides, arrests, persecution, the murder of injured protesters and the obstruction of access to medical care, among other acts.
Responsibility for these “atrocities” lies with the ‘ayatollah’ Ali Khamenei, maintained the letter signed by several Iranian figures, which alludes to the regime’s “authoritarian apparatus” to commit “mass murders” just “to guarantee its survival”.
The Iranian government has recognized more than 3,000 deaths, but human rights organizations point to a number in the tens of thousands.
The film It Was Just An Accidentshown in Portugal, tells the story of a former political prisoner who considers taking violent revenge on his torturer in prison. The film was co-written by Panahi, Mahmoudian, Nader Saeiver and Shadhmer Rastin.
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