In Tehran, one of the screenwriters of the Iranian drama It Was Just an Accident, which has been nominated for an Oscar, has been arrested. The person is Mehdi Mahmoudian; information has been corroborated by increasing production sources.

Representatives of the film said the detention took place on Saturday, January 31. Details of the charges have not been disclosed.

According to inter-industry sources, the arrest occurred a few days after Mahmoudian and 16 other individuals signed a statement condemning the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the regime’s brutal suppression of mass protests.

Two other signatories, Vida Rabbani and Abdullah Momeni, were also detained.

Mehdi Mahmoudian is not simply a human rights defender and a prisoner of conscience; he is a witness, a listener, and a rare moral figure whose absence is immediately felt both in prison and beyond its walls,

– Jafar Panahi

Reaction and Context of the Arrest

Panahi, the Oscar-winning director of It Was Just an Accident, spoke out in response to his colleague’s arrest and supported the January 28 statement, which speaks of mass and systematic killings of citizens – urging the regime to end.

Mass and systematic killings of citizens who bravely took to the streets to end the illegitimate regime are an organized state crime against humanity.

– Jafar Panahi

As for the film itself: the film It Was Just an Accident is nominated for an Oscar in the categories of Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. The awards ceremony is scheduled for March 15. The film was also nominated by France for the Best International Feature Film award. In Cannes, the film won the Palme d’Or last year.

Panahi works on films under various conditions: imprisonment, house arrest, and travel bans. It was the experience of being behind bars that inspired him to create this film; during filming he met Mahmoudian. Panahi called him a support for other prisoners.

The screenplay for the film was written by Panahi, Mahmoudian, Nader Saevar and Shadmehr Rastin.