Jafar Panahi sentenced to new five-year prison term in Iran

The Hollywood Reporter said the sentence was issued in absentia. The reported ruling adds a substantial prison term to Panahi’s existing legal difficulties and includes a two-year ban on travel and social-media activity, as well as the confiscation of his assets.

The new case is separate from a previous one-year conviction or prison sentence involving Panahi, according to reporting by Variety and The Hindu. Together, the rulings represent distinct legal proceedings rather than a single sentence described in different terms.

Variety reported the precise duration as five years and one month, citing the Emtedad News Agency. It also said Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, provided information to the Iranian reformist media outlet. Other supplied reports describe the term more broadly as five years, so the additional month remains attributed to Variety’s account.

The Hollywood Reporter also reported that Panahi had returned to Iran after the Oscars before the latest ruling. That account places the new sentence in the context of his return to the country, while the available reporting does not establish when the sentence will be enforced.

The central development is consistent across the four supplied publications: a Tehran Revolutionary Court imposed a new prison term of approximately five years, alongside asset confiscation and restrictions on travel and social-media activity. The reports differ only over the precision of the prison-term length, with Variety giving the longer formulation of five years and one month.