An
award-wining
Iranian
filmmaker
said
authorities
raided
the
offices
and
homes
of
several
filmmakers
and
other
industry
professionals
and
arrested
some
of
them.
Mohammad
Rasoulof
said
in
a
statement
signed
by
dozens
of
movie
industry
professionals
on
his
Instagram
account
on
May
14
that
security
forces
made
some
arrests
and
confiscated
film
production
equipment
during
raids
conducted
in
recent
days.
The
statement
condemned
the
actions
and
called
them
“illegal.”
In
a
separate
Instagram
post,
Rasoulof
identified
two
of
the
detained
filmmakers
as
Firouzeh
Khosravani
and
Mina
Keshavarz.
Rasoulof
was
not
targeted
in
the
recent
raids.
Iranian
media
and
authorities
have
not
commented
on
the
raids
and
no
additional
details
were
immediately
available.
Authorities
in
Iran
occasionally
arrest
activists
in
cultural
fields
over
alleged
security
violations.
Rasoulof
won
the
Berlin
Film
Festival's
top
prize
in
2020
for
his
film
“There
is
No
Evil.”
It
tells
four
stories
loosely
connected
to
the
themes
of
the
death
penalty
in
Iran
and
personal
freedoms
under
tyranny.
Shortly
after
receiving
the
award
he
was
sentenced
to
a
year
in
prison
for
three
films
he
made
that
authorities
found
to
be
“propaganda
against
the
system.”
His
lawyer
appealed
the
sentence.
He
was
also
banned
from
making
films
and
travelling
abroad.
Iran's
conservative
authorities,
many
with
religious
sensibilities,
control
all
the
levers
of
power
in
Iran.
They
have
long
viewed
many
cultural
activities
as
part
of
a
“soft
war”
by
the
West
against
the
Islamic
Republic.
They
say
Westernisation
is
attempting
to
tarnish
the
country's
Islamic
beliefs.