Iranian filmmaker summoned to prison

TEHRAN: An Iranian director who recently won the top prize at the Berlin film festival has been summoned to serve a one-year prison sentence, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

Mohammad Rasoulof, 48, won the festival’s Golden Bear for "There is no evil" in February, but was unable to accept the prize in person as he was barred from leaving Iran. Rasoulof received an order via text message on Wednesday to appear and start serving his sentence, his lawyer Nasser Zarafshan said in a phone interview.

The director was charged with "propaganda against the system" and sentenced to a year in prison last year, according to the attorney. Zarafshan said the sentence was "mostly" over his previous film, "A Man of Integrity". Rasoulof’s passport was confiscated in 2017 after the film’s premier at Cannes. Zarafshan has advised his client not to turn himself in for now, he said, considering the novel coronavirus outbreak in Iran.