An Iranian screenwriter nominated for an Academy Award was arrested this weekend after signing a statement condemning his government for its deadly crackdown on protesters, a human rights group reported.
Mehdi Mahmoudian, a co-writer of the film It Was Just an Accident, was among several signatories to the letter who were detained on Saturday, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency.
Seventeen prominent lawyers, artists and activists signed the letter, which blamed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for the recent killings and arrests of thousands of protesters who took to the streets across the country.
There was no information about where Mahmoudian and other signatories were being held, the rights agency said. It also was not clear what they were being charged with, and there has been no public comment from the government, BBC Persian reported on Saturday. The news outlet cited Hossein Razzagh, a prominent activist.
On Sunday, BBC Persian reported that Mahmoudian had spoken to a lawyer, and a post on Mahmoudian’s social media said that he had briefly contacted his family to inform them of his arrest and health, but that he was not allowed to provide further details.
The arrests come after more than a month of demonstrations in the capital, Tehran, initially over economic hardship. The protests quickly spread and turned into widespread calls for a new government.
As the demonstrations grew, the protesters were increasingly met with deadly force.
New York Times News Service