Latest news with #CenterforHumanRightsinIran
Euronews
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
‘My Favourite Cake' directors given suspended prison sentence in Iran for showing unveiled woman
ADVERTISEMENT Iranian directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha have been given a 14-month suspended jail sentence by an Iranian court on charges that include alleged production of obscene content in their Berlinale-premiering film My Favourite Cake – our joint Number 1 film of 2024 alongside Mohammad Rasoulof's Oscar nominated film The Seed of the Sacred Fig . After months of interrogations and travel bans over the past two years — which prevented them from attending the 2024 Berlin premiere – Moghaddam and Sanaeeha had been charged with making a film labeled as 'obscene' and 'offending public morality.' They were also accused of 'propaganda against the regime' and other charges claiming the film was 'unlawfully' screened without the Iranian authorities' permits for distribution. The Iranian court also convicted My Favourite Cake producer Gholamreza Mousavi to the same sentence as the directors, which also includes a fine of 400 million Iranian Rials (€8,240). My Favourite Cake follows a lonely septuagenarian widow Mahin (Lily Farhadpour) in Tehran who rediscovers her desires in a country where women's rights are heavily restricted. 'We wanted to tell the story of the reality of our lives, which is about those forbidden things like singing, dancing, not wearing hijab at home, which no one does at home,' Moghaddam previously said. Esmael Mehrabi and Lily Farhadpour holding a picture of directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha, who were banned from travelling to Berlin for the film premiere Getty The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran commented on the verdict: 'Artists in Iran endure significant hardships, including increasing censorship, arbitrary detentions and the constant threat of legal repercussions for expressing dissent through their work.' The 14-month sentence, which has been suspended for five years, comes after the global film community rallied in support of the directors with a petition whose signatories included Pedro Almodóvar, Juliette Binoche and the aforementioned Mohammad Rasoulof . Mohammad Rasoulof speaks to Euronews Culture Euronews Culture In our interview with Mohammad Rasoulof, he stated: 'I'd like to flag up the filmmakers of My Favourite Cake, Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha, who are undergoing all sorts of problems inside Iran. They are banned from leaving the country because of their films, and in fact, they are being investigated for similar charges for spreading prostitution and corruption on Earth, for instance. This atmosphere will be the cause of a series of new problems because in the world now, it's not possible to control content, like the Iranian regime does. The result of this is more and more repression, and acts of subversion will surface, as the government cannot control everything.' You can read the full interview here . In our review for My Favourite Cake , we wrote: 'My Favourite Cake is a gently subversive film that dares to pepper radicalism within a poignant tragicomedy. (...) Behind a seemingly harmless set up and a Linklater-ish second half lies messages of female empowerment that are not tolerated under the nation's repressive regime. Driven by two magnificent central performances, which make the allegorically loaded epilogue truly resonant, Moghaddam and Sanaeeh's film is a subtle but powerful snapshot of the harsh realities facing Iranian women, as well as a commentary about what could befall those daring to take control of their destinies. It's impressive and haunting in equal measure.'
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘My Favourite Cake' directors given suspended prison sentence in Iran for showing unveiled woman
Iranian directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha have been given a 14-month suspended jail sentence by an Iranian court on charges that include alleged production of obscene content in their Berlinale-premiering film My Favourite Cake – our joint Number 1 film of 2024 alongside Mohammad Rasoulof's Oscar nominated film . After months of interrogations and travel bans over the past two years — which prevented them from attending the 2024 Berlin premiere – Moghaddam and Sanaeeha had been charged with making a film labeled as 'obscene' and 'offending public morality.' They were also accused of 'propaganda against the regime' and other charges claiming the film was 'unlawfully' screened without the Iranian authorities' permits for distribution. The Iranian court also convicted My Favourite Cake producer Gholamreza Mousavi to the same sentence as the directors, which also includes a fine of 400 million Iranian Rials (€8,240). My Favourite Cake follows a lonely septuagenarian widow Mahin (Lily Farhadpour) in Tehran who rediscovers her desires in a country where women's rights are heavily restricted. 'We wanted to tell the story of the reality of our lives, which is about those forbidden things like singing, dancing, not wearing hijab at home, which no one does at home,' Moghaddam previously said. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran commented on the verdict: 'Artists in Iran endure significant hardships, including increasing censorship, arbitrary detentions and the constant threat of legal repercussions for expressing dissent through their work.' The 14-month sentence, which has been suspended for five years, comes after the global film community rallied in support of the directors with a petition whose signatories included Pedro Almodóvar, Juliette Binoche and the aforementioned Mohammad Rasoulof. In our interview with Mohammad Rasoulof, he stated: 'I'd like to flag up the filmmakers of My Favourite Cake, Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha, who are undergoing all sorts of problems inside Iran. They are banned from leaving the country because of their films, and in fact, they are being investigated for similar charges for spreading prostitution and corruption on Earth, for instance. This atmosphere will be the cause of a series of new problems because in the world now, it's not possible to control content, like the Iranian regime does. The result of this is more and more repression, and acts of subversion will surface, as the government cannot control everything.' You can read the full interview here. In our review for , we wrote: 'My Favourite Cake is a gently subversive film that dares to pepper radicalism within a poignant tragicomedy. (...) Behind a seemingly harmless set up and a Linklater-ish second half lies messages of female empowerment that are not tolerated under the nation's repressive regime. Driven by two magnificent central performances, which make the allegorically loaded epilogue truly resonant, Moghaddam and Sanaeeh's film is a subtle but powerful snapshot of the harsh realities facing Iranian women, as well as a commentary about what could befall those daring to take control of their destinies. It's impressive and haunting in equal measure.'
The Guardian
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Iranian directors of My Favourite Cake given suspended jail sentences for ‘spreading lies'
An Iranian court has handed two Iranian film directors suspended jail terms over a film that angered authorities in its home country but was acclaimed in Europe and the US, rights groups said on Thursday. Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha were convicted earlier this week by a revolutionary court for their film My Favourite Cake, the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) and Dadban legal monitor said in separate statements. The film, which competed at the 2024 Berlin film festival and won prizes in Europe and the US, shows the romantic awakening of a woman in Tehran who notably appears without the headscarf that is obligatory for women in Iran. The pair were sentenced to 14 months in prison, suspended for five years, and a fine on charges of 'spreading lies with the intention of disturbing public opinion', Dadban said. In addition, they were sentenced to one year in prison, also suspended for five years, and all equipment ordered confiscated for the charge of 'participating in the production of vulgar content'. Another fine was ordered on the charge of 'showing a film without a screening licence', it added. The New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran commented on the verdict, saying: 'Artists in Iran endure significant hardships, including increasing censorship, arbitrary detentions and the constant threat of legal repercussions for expressing dissent through their work.' Even before their conviction, Moghaddam and Sanaeeha were banned from leaving Iran to attend the Berlin film festival and then promote the film when it was released in Europe. 'We wanted to tell the story of the reality of our lives, which is about those forbidden things like singing, dancing, not wearing hijab at home, which no one does at home,' Moghaddam said earlier this year. News of the verdict came as the Cannes film festival announced that the new movie by another leading director banned from leaving Iran, Jafar Panahi, would be screened at its 2025 edition. Another recent Iranian film, Mohammad Rasoulof's The Seed of the Sacred Fig, which explicitly deals with the 2022-23 protest movement, resulted in the director and several of its actors fleeing the country, and those who remained unable to leave and subject to prosecution.
The Guardian
30-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on attacks on lawyers: democracies must stand up for justice
What the law says on paper is irrelevant if it cannot be upheld, or even stated clearly. That is why lawyers are targeted – with harassment, disbarment from the profession or even jail – by repressive regimes. Russia's attempts to suppress the voice of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny did not end with his death in an Arctic prison colony. In a bleak coda, three of his lawyers have been jailed for several years. Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin were found guilty of participating in an 'extremist organisation' for relaying his messages to the outside world. The Center for Human Rights in Iran warned earlier this year that Iranian lawyers were being kicked out of the profession, arrested and jailed for representing protesters and dissidents. As its executive director, Hadi Ghaemi, noted: 'Every lawyer imprisoned or disbarred represents many defendants whose rights have been trampled and now lack legal defence.' In China, where more than 300 human rights lawyers who had dared to take on sensitive cases were detained in 2015's '709' crackdown, the pressure continues. As a grim joke had it at the height of the campaign, 'even lawyers' lawyers need lawyers' – those who represented arrested friends were then seized themselves. The unrelenting nature of the clampdown is particularly striking when, as one Chinese lawyer, Liang Xiaojun, observed: 'We know we can't win.' When the verdict is clear before a case has started, lawyers can only offer solidarity, spread their clients' stories, and highlight the gulf between legal theory and reality. But in doing so, they challenge the official narrative. Targeting these lawyers didn't just signal that resistance only invites further trouble. It attacked the concept of the rule of law itself, which lawyers had attempted to assert, hammering home the message that the party's power was unassailable. The Council of Europe warned earlier this month that there are increasing reports of harassment, threats and other attacks on the practice of law internationally. The human rights body has adopted the first international treaty aiming to protect the profession of lawyer. Member states should now ratify this. Lawyers must be defended, as they defend others and the concepts of rules and justice. That message is more important than ever as the Trump administration turns on lawyers and judges as part of its broader assault on the institutions of US democracy and the principles that underpin them. The sanctioning of staff at the international criminal court is only the most flagrant example. William R Bay, president of the American Bar Association, told members in a recent letter: 'Government actions evidence a clear and disconcerting pattern. If a court issues a decision this administration does not agree with, the judge is targeted. If a lawyer represents parties in a dispute with the administration, or … represents parties the administration does not like, lawyers are targeted.' Government lawyers too have faced 'personal attacks, intimidation, firings and demotions for simply fulfilling their professional responsibilities'. Democratic governments and civil society must speak up for the law wherever it is threatened. Mr Bay is right to urge those in the profession to stand up and be counted. 'If we don't speak now, when will we speak?' he asks. The law still counts – both materially and culturally – in the US. Those who practise it need some of the courage in resisting abuses that their counterparts have shown elsewhere.
