An Iranian court has handed director Jafar Panahi a prison sentence of five years and one month and ordered the seizure of all his assets, his lawyer said.
Mostafa Nili told the Iranian news outlet Emtedad that the 66-year-old filmmaker was sentenced in absentia. The court also imposed a two-year travel ban and barred Panahi from using social media for two years, Nili added.
The ruling arrives after a previous conviction last year in which Panahi was sentenced for what Iranian authorities described as 'propaganda activities.' The exact charges underlying the new sentence have not been made clear in public statements by the court or officials.
Panahi won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year for his film It Was Just an Accident. He is an internationally recognised filmmaker whose work has frequently attracted both critical acclaim abroad and scrutiny from Iranian authorities.
Nili communicated the details to Emtedad; the court's written verdict has not been publicly released. It was not clear when or whether Panahi would be taken into custody to begin serving the sentence or when the asset seizure would be enforced.
The case will be watched closely by international arts and human rights observers, who have in the past noted tensions between Iranian authorities and cultural figures, although no immediate reaction from officials was reported at the time of the lawyer's statement.