Award-winning Iranian filmmaker gets 6-year prison sentence

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An award-winning Iranian filmmaker whose work focuses on both the travails of modern life and political expression in the Islamic Republic has been sentenced to six years in prison over his movies.

Both filmmaker Keywan Karimi and his lawyer Amir Raeisian say a court sentenced him on charges of “insulting sanctities” in Iran, whose elected government is ultimately overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

They say the footage involved both a “video clip” and a film he directed called “Writing on the City,” which focuses on political graffiti in Tehran during its 1979 Islamic Revolution and following its contested 2009 election.

Iranian state media and officials have yet to comment on Karimi’s case. Both Karimi and Raeisian say they will appeal his sentence. TVJ