Panahi was due to take his place on the Cannes jury this year. Instead, he is incarcerated in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, after he was arrested for unspecified crimes. The festival has left an empty chair on the jury panel.
Stephen Frears, in Cannes for the premiere of Tamara Drewe, added his voice to the protests today, saying reports of the hunger strike were “terrible news”.
The director has made several films critical of the Iranian regime. All are banned in his own country. Last year, the government imposed a travel ban after he appeared wearing green – the colour worn by opposition Green Movement supporters – at the Montreal Film Festival.
Binoche is in Cannes to promote Certified Copy, a film directed be another Iranian film-maker, Abbas Kiarostami.
She sobbed as reports filtered through that Panahi had begun a hunger strike. Sitting beside her, Kiarostami called for his release.
“The fact that a film-maker has been imprisoned is itself intolerable,” he said. “If the Iranian government continues to refuse to release Jafar, then we need explanations.
“Jafar Panahi was inclined to make his films under clandestine, illegal circumstances, but that’s not his responsibility alone. The responsibility is that of the authorities who prevent him from carrying out his profession.
“When a film-maker, an artist, is imprisoned it is art as a whole that is attacked, and it is against this that we should react.”
Panahi, who won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film festival in 2000 for Dayereh, was arrested in March by plain clothes police who burst into his home.
Tehran has denied that his incarceration is “because he is an artist or for political reasons”, but opponents of the government believe he was arrested over plans to make a new film criticising the government.
Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone and Steven Spielberg are among the high-profile directors petitioning for Panahi’s release.
(18 May 2010) Prominent Iranian director, Jafar Panahi, has gone on a hunger strike since Sunday, 16 May 2010, to protest abuse and ill-treatment as well as continuous threats against his family members.
During a telephone call to his family today, Panahi told them he is on a hunger strike and read a letter to them which he wished released to the Iranian media.
In the letter published by his family, Panahi stated that he has been threatened with arrests of his entire family. “On Saturday night [15 May 2010] agents attacked Evin’s Cell 56, forcing me and my cellmates outdoors without any clothing and kept us in the cold weather for one and half hours,” he wrote.
“On Sunday morning, they took me to interrogation room and accused me of filming the inside of my cell, which is absolutely false. They then threatened that they would arrest my entire family and transfer them to Evin Prison, and that they would send my daughter to an unsafe detention center in Rajaie Shahr, ” Panahi added.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran condemns the inhumane threats made against Panahi. The Campaign holds Iranian authorities directly responsible for any harm which may come to Panahi’s physical health. The Campaign is further concerned that Jafar Panahi’s courageous action to reveal his illegal and inhumane treatment, may increase physical and psychological abuse against him.
Regarding his decision to go on a hunger strike, Jafar Panahi has said: ”I have not taken any food or liquids since Sunday morning [16 May 2010], and I would like to announce that unless the following demands are met, I will continue to refrain from eating and drinking, as I do not wish to turn into a guinea pig who is put under various torture, psychological and mental abuse, and subjected to false accusations.”
He made the following demands for ending his hunger strike:
“1. Contacting and visiting with my family to ensure their complete health.
2. The right to having and consult with a lawyer after 77 days of detention.
3. Unconditional release until my trial date and final verdict.”
In the end, Panahi has said: ”I swear upon the cinema in which I believe, that I will not stop my hunger strike until my demands are met. My only demand is for my body to be delivered to my family to bury wherever they like. This letter was written at 11:00 a.m. on 18 May 2010.”
Source: International campaign for Human rights in Iran
اعتصاب غذای جعفر پناهی در پی تهدیدخانواده وشکنجه روحی در زندان
جعفرپناهی کارگردان مطرح سینمای ایران از روز یک شنبه در پاسخ به فشارهای روحی و تهدید مداوم اعضای خانواده اش دست به اعتصاب غذا زده است. پناهی درتماسی که روز سه شنبه ۲۸ اردیبهشت ماه با خانواده خود داشته است از اعتصاب غذای خود خبر داده و نامه ای را برای آنها خوانده که دراختیار رسانه ها قرارگیرد.
دراین نامه که توسط خانواده اش منتشر شده او گفته است که تهدید شده همه اعضای خانواده اش را دستگیر می کنند: « صبح روز یکشنبه مرا به بازجویی بردند و متهم کردند که از داخل سلول فیلمبرداری کرده ام؛ که کذب محض است. و بعد تهدید کردند که تمامی اعضای خانواده ام را دستگیر و به اوین منتقل خواهند کرد و دخترم را به بازداشتگاهی ناامن در رجائی شهر خواهند فرستاد و با این حرف ها قدرت تجزیه و تحلیل را از من سلب کردند.»
کمپین بین المللی حقوق بشر با محکوم کردن تهدیدات غیرانسانی که علیه این کارگردان مشهور سینمای ایران به منظور وادار کردن وی برای تحقیق 
برخی خواسته های غیرقضایی و امنیتی صورت می گیرد، وزارت اطلاعات را مسوول مستقیم هرگونه آسیب به سلامت جسمی وی می داند. کمپین همچنین نگران آن است که اقدام شجاعانه پناهی در افشای فشارهای غیرقانونی و غیرانسانی برعلیه خودش موجب افزایش موج تهدید وآزار واذیت جسمی وروحی وی بشود.
پناهی افزوده است: « بعد از برخورد ناشایستی که شنبه شب (۸۹/۲/۲۵)در هجوم مامورین به داخل سلول ۵۶ اوین صورت گرفت و متعاقب آن به مدت یک ساعت و نیم، من و هم سلولی هایم را بدون لباس در بیرون و در هوایی سرد نگه داشتند.»
این کارگردان مطرح سینما در خصوص تصمیم خود برای اعتصاب غذا گفته است: « ازیکشنبه صبح(۸۹/۲/۲۶)تا کنون هیچ چیز نخورده ام و نیاشامیده ام و حال اعلام می کنم اگر موارد زیر تحقق نپذیرد، من به نخوردن و نیاشامیدن خود ادامه خواهم داد؛ چرا که نمی خواهم تبدیل به موش آزمایشگاهی شوم که هر لحظه مرا به اتهامات واهی تحت شکنجه و آزارهای روحی و روانی قرار دهند.
وی درخواست زیر را برای پایان اعتصاب غذای خود مطرح کرده است:
۱.تماس و دیدار باخانواده ام و اطمینان کامل از سلامت آنها ۲.حق داشتن وکیل بعد از ۷۷روز و مشورت با او ۳.آزادی بدون قید و شرط تا تشکیل دادگاه و صدور حکم قطعی
او درپایان آورده است: « به سینمایی که به آن معتقدم قسم می خورم تا تحقق خواسته هایم دست از اعتصاب غذا برنمی دارم و تنها خواسته ام این است که جنازه مرا به خانواده ام تحویل دهند تا هر کجا که مایل اند دفن کنند.» این نامه در ساعت یازده صبح ۲۸ اردیبهشت نوشته شده است.
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