A prominent Iranian film director and an Iranian producer were sentenced on Tuesday to six months in prison for creating the film “Leila’s Brothers” and screening it at the Cannes Film Festival without official approval, according to the country’s news media.
Saeed Roustaee, the film’s director, and Javad Noruzbegi, who produced the film with Roustaee, were both sentenced to six months in prison by the Islamic Revolutionary Court in Tehran for “participating in the opposition’s propaganda against the Islamic regime,” according to the conviction announcement made by the court and reported in Etemad, an Iranian reformist newspaper.
“The defendants aligned with the oppositional media, under the influence of propaganda, in line with the counter-revolutionary (anti-regime) forces,” the announcement read.
“With the aim of raising money and seeking fame,” it said, they “prepared fodder and intensified the media battle against the religious authority.”Roustaee and Noruzbegi will serve about nine days of their sentence, with the remainder suspended for five years, Etemad reported.
During that period, Roustaee and Noruzbegi will be required to complete a 24-hour course about “creating movies aligned with national interests and national morality” and refrain from associating with other individuals in the film industry, according to Etemad.
Persons:
Saeed Roustaee, Javad Noruzbegi, “, ”, Etemad
Organizations:
Cannes, Islamic Revolutionary, “
Locations:
Iranian, Tehran, Etemad