Iranian director Jafar Panahi released after hunger strike

PARIS: Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, supporters said on Friday.

The director, a winner at all the big European film festivals, had been arrested months before the current anti-regime protests erupted. But his imprisonment became a symbol of the plight of artists speaking out against the authorities.

Panahi has been released from Tehran´s Evin prison “two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom”, the US-based Centre for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter, while Iran’s reformist Shargh newspaper published an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter after being released on bail. His wife Tahereh Saeedi posted a picture on Instagram of Panahi being driven from prison in a vehicle.