Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been arrested amid a wave of detentions of cultural and activist figures in Iran, state media report.
Panahi is among more than 300 Iranian filmmakers and cultural activists who issued a statement on July 9 condemning the arrests of activist cinematographers Mohammad Rasulof and Mostafa al-Ahmad.
Rasulof and Ahmad had joined a group of Iranian filmmakers in publishing an open letter calling on the security forces to "lay down their arms" in the face of outrage over the "corruption, theft, inefficiency, and repression" following the violent crackdown of those protesting a building collapse in the southwestern city of Abadan that killed 41 people in May.
More than 100 Iranian cinematographers backed the statement demanding that soldiers, who they wrote "have turned into the people's oppressors," lay down their weapons and "return to the arms of the nation."
Some reports indicated that Panahi, along with a group of other filmmakers, had visited the Evin prison prosecutor's office on July 11 in regard to the arrest of Rasulof and Ahmad but that he was arrested when he left the prosecutor's office.
On July 9, Iranian state media announced the arrest of Mostafa Tajzadeh, the former deputy interior minister in reformist President Mohammad Khatami's government and one of the most prominent reformist figures in the Islamic republic.
Tajzadeh was accused of "a conspiracy to act against the country's security," Mehr news agency said late on July 8.
Tajzadeh also was charged with "publishing falsehoods to disturb the public mind," adding that this is the reason a warrant was issued for his arrest. The report gave no further details.
Tajzadeh was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison following the disputed presidential election in 2009. The sentence was later increased by one year to a total of seven years.
Tajzadeh is an outspoken critic of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While serving his previous sentence, he published open letters addressed to Khamenei from prison.
He also registered to run in a subsequent presidential election but was disqualified in preelection vetting by the Guardians Council.
