223 Lashes and Six Years in Prison for Iranian Filmmaker Keyvan Karimi

Keyvan Karimi, an Iranian documentary filmmaker, has been sentenced to six years in prison and 223 lashes by Branch 28 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Moghiseh. His charges include 'insulting the sacred' and 'illicit relationship.' On Wednesday, October 22, Mr. Karimi told the Associated Press that he denies the accusations and stated that his films mainly discuss societal issues, graffiti, and workers, and he does not understand why such a ruling has been issued against him. His lawyer, Amir Reysian, explained to Radio Farda that the charge of insulting the sacred stemmed from a planned clip that Mr. Karimi did not produce due to a lack of agreement with the clients, but the court interpreted this as an insult to the sacred. Reysian further added that another work mentioned in the ruling is the documentary 'Wall,' which relates to graffiti in Tehran and has no connection to insulting the sacred. He emphasized that none of Mr. Karimi's actions are related to the sacred. Additionally, Mr. Karimi has been sentenced to 223 lashes for 'illicit relationship through kissing and shaking hands with non-mahram individuals.' Two years ago, he gained fame for his short film 'The Story of a Man and a Woman,' which was based on a story by Italian author Italo Calvino and was showcased at 40 festivals worldwide, winning awards from festivals in Spain and Colombia. Concurrently with the sentencing of this filmmaker, poets Mehdi Mousavi and Fatemeh Ekhtesari, known for their postmodern ghazals in Iran, were also sentenced to 9 years and 11.5 years in prison, respectively, on charges of 'propaganda against the regime' and 'insulting the sacred.' The two poets also received 99 lashes each for the charge of 'kissing and shaking hands with non-mahram individuals.' Reysian, their lawyer, refuted these charges, stating that the accusation of insulting the sacred pertains to poems they wrote, none of which, as presented in court, contained insulting language or related to the sacred. He noted that most of these poems had been published legally with the Ministry of Culture's permission. Mehdi Mousavi described the sentences on his Instagram as 'unfair and without trial.' Mousavi and Ekhtesari were arrested in December 2013 and spent over a month in Evin Prison's Ward 2A. Their works have often faced censorship in Iran, and some of their books have been confiscated after publication.