Two of Iran's most influential filmmakers have condemned the Iranian government's communications blackout as one of the “obvious tools of repression“ to cover up the violence against protesters.
“On the one hand, the Iranian regime has cut off the country's communication channels - the internet, mobile phones and landlines, cutting off people's ability to communicate with each other; and on the other hand, it has completely blocked all means of contact with the outside world“, Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof said in a joint statement on social media on Saturday.
The filmmakers said they were “deeply concerned“ for the lives of their fellow citizens, families, friends and colleagues who have been left “defenceless“ due to the disruption of communications.
“History shows that silence today will have dire consequences in the future,” the statement concluded.
Panahi, who won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival last May for his film “It was Just an Accident“, has endured numerous run-ins with the Iranian government, including imprisonment, the last of which from 2022 to 2023.
Rasulof, who was nominated for an Oscar for his film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig“, was forced to flee Iran in 2024 after an Iranian court sentenced him to prison on national security charges.