Berlin Film Festival Invites Iranian Ex-Detainee To Join Jury

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (file photo)

The Berlin Film Festival says it has invited Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who is on bail after three months in a Tehran jail, to serve on its jury in February.

Panahi went on a hunger strike to protest the conditions of his detention after his March 1 arrest and was released from Tehran's Evin prison on May 25 after posting bail of 2 billion rials ($200,000).

The charges against Panahi were not announced, but Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini said in April that he was detained for making an "anti-regime" film about the postelection unrest last year.

compiled from agency reports