Iranian Documentary Maker Mojgan Ilanlou Arrested Briefly As Islamic Regime Escalates Crackdown On Dissent

Melanie Goodfellow
·2 min read
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Iranian documentary filmmaker and female rights activist Mojgan Ilanlou was arrested in Tehran on Sunday and then held for 24 hours, to be freed late Monday.

The detention follows news last week that Leila’s Brothers filmmakers Saeed Roustayi and Javad Noruzbegi had been sentenced to six months in prison on charges of “anti-regime propaganda activity” for screening the family drama in Cannes in 2022.

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Ilanlou’s detention and the sentence for the Leila’s Brothers filmmakers are seen as signs that Iran’s Islamic Regime is upping its efforts to smother the “Woman Life Freedom” uprising as it approaches its one-year anniversary.

The protests were originally prompted by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody last September, after she was arrested for not wearing her veil correctly.

Ilanlou was previously arrested in October 2022 for removing her veil and sharing the photos on social media in the early days of the protests.

She was sentenced to 10 years in prison, 75 lashes of the whip, forbidden from working and banned from leaving the country, until pressure from the local cinema community forced her release in February.

Ilanlou’s work focuses on the situation for women in Iran, with her some 20 credits including a  portrait of friend and fellow activist Faezeh Hashemi, who is currently in jail, and her most recent film One Thousand Women, about young Iranian women who want to exercise the sport of wrestling.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR) and its founding institutions, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and European Film Academy, raised the international alarm over Ilanlou’s arrest.

It welcomed her release but noted the action was a sign of regime’s intimidatory tactics.

“The arrest is seen as a warning to the film community that all dissent is being monitored and anyone could be pulled in any minute,” commented ICFR co-founder Mike Downey shortly after Illanlou’s release.

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