Protest against the incarceration of Jafar Panahi and Mohammed Rasulof

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival denounces the sentences conferred upon Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammed Rasulof.

The recent accusations against them, as well as the excessive penalty imposed on them for spreading “propaganda against the system”, for participation in the protests that ensued after Ahmadinejad’s re-election and for their socially focused work, is a direct and unabashed violation of civil liberties.

Thessaloniki Film Festival Director Dimitri Eipides, a staunch supporter and promoter of contemporary Iranian cinema since its earliest days, who has hosted on several occasions Panahi and his films in the Festival, states: “The conviction of Jafar Panahi and Mohammed Rasulof, as well as the ban on filmmaking, is an intolerable infringement of human rights, as well as artistic freedom. We will do anything in our power to see that this unjust sentence is reversed”.

Please sign the petition for the release of the two directors in the web address:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/solidarite-jafar-panahi/