Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned a recent wave of arrests in Iran, whose targets have included three filmmakers and a political activist, calling for their release and for an end to repression.
In a statement on July 12, the New York-based rights group described the arrests of film directors Mohammad Rasulof, Mostafa al-Ahmad, and Jafar Panahi, and reformist government critic Mustafa Tajzadeh, as part of a “fresh crackdown on peaceful dissent” that began in May.
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HRW noted that the crackdown has come “amid the deterioration of economic conditions” and the apparent deadlock with global powers over efforts to revive a defunct 2015 deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
“Unable or unwilling to tackle the many severe challenges facing Iran, the government has resorted to its repressive reflex of arresting popular critics,” said Tara Sepehri Far, senior Iran researcher at Human Rights Watch.
The arrests of prominent activists and filmmakers has been met with widespread international criticism. Three European film and art festivals have strongly condemned the government over the arrests.
In a statement released on July 12, the Venice Film Festival called for the "immediate release" of Panahi, an award-winning Iranian opposition filmmaker, and of Rasulof and Ahmad.
"La Biennale di Venezia joins its own voice to the many that are now speaking out in the world to condemn the repressive actions under way [in Iran]," the statement said.
Panahi is among more than 300 Iranian filmmakers and cultural activists who issued a statement on July 9 condemning the arrests of Rasulof and 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 filmmakers backed the statement, which said that soldiers "have turned into the people's oppressors.”