Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who recently won the Cannes Palme d’Or for his anti-regime drama “It Was Just an Accident,” has launched an impassioned appeal on Instagram that appears to push for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be toppled amid escalating conflict with Israel.
Panahi in an Instagram post called on the United Nations and the global community “to immediately and decisively force the two regimes” to “halt military attacks and end the killing of civilians.”
However Panahi, who is currently in an undisclosed location outside of Iran, also wrote: “The only way to escape is the immediate dissolution of this system and [to] initiate a people’s responsive and democratic government.”
“I have no doubt about this clear and non-negotiable point and I have stated my position explicitly and will say it again: an attack on my homeland, Iran, is in no way acceptable. Israel has violated Iran and should be tried in an international trial as a war aggressor,” Panahi said.
But he added that “this position does not mean in any way ignoring four decades of mismanagement, corruption, oppression, tyranny and incompetence on the part of the Islamic Republic.”
“This government has neither the power, will, nor legitimacy required to run the country or manage crises,” Panahi continued. “Staying in this regime means the continued fall and the continuation of the repression.”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday cautioned that he opposed bringing down the Iranian regime externally through violence and warned of the potentially destabilizing effect this could have across the Middle East.
“The biggest mistake today would be to try to do a regime change in Iran through military means because that would lead to chaos,” Macron told reporters on the last day of the G7 summit in Canada, warning that “no one can say what comes next.”
Panahi, who is known globally for prizewinning works such as “The Circle,” “Offside” and “This Is Not a Film,” traveled recently from Iran to Australia. On Sunday, he won the Sydney Film Festival’s top prize for “It Was Just an Accident,” which is about a group of former political prisoners who kidnap the man they believe to be their former interrogator and torturer.
Panahi’s exact whereabouts are currently not known. Representatives for “It Was Just an Accident,” which will be released in the U.S. by Neon, did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.
In an interview with Variety, Panahi said “It Was Just and Accident” was inspired by his experiences in an Iranian prison. After his release, he was able to travel to Cannes and subsequently – after he returned to Iran – to Sydney to promote the surreptitiously shot “It Was Just an Accident” after being incarcerated twice for “propaganda against the state” and banned from making films, speaking to the press and leaving Iran for more than 14 years.
Read Panahi’s full statement below.
I have no doubt in this clear and non-negotiable point and I have stated my position explicitly and will say it again: an attack on my homeland, Iran, is in no way acceptable. Israel has violated Iran and should be tried in an international trial as a war aggressor.
This position does not mean in any way ignoring four decades of mismanagement, corruption, oppression, tyranny and incompetence of the Islamic Republic. This government has neither the power, will, nor legitimacy required to run the country or manage crises. Staying in this regime means the continued fall, the continuation of the repression. The only way to escape is the immediate dissolution of this system and initiate a people’s responsive and democratic government.
With full emphasis on preserving Iran’s territorial integrity and the right to sovereignty of the nation, I demand an immediate end to the devastating war between the Islamic Republic and the Israeli regime; a war that destroys the lives and lives of civilians on both sides and destroys vital infrastructures. This war is a serious threat to regional peace and human values.
Both regimes should be blatantly condemned for their persistence of violence, warfare, and absolute indifference to human dignity. Missile attacks, bombardment of residential areas, and targeted killing of civilians are crimes. Morals, politics, and safety are none of the excuses for these crimes. Continuing this cycle of blood and hate will only bring more instability in the world and an expansion of disaster.
I call on the U.N. and the world community to immediately and decisively force the two regimes to immediately halt military attacks and end the killing of civilians. Continuing silence and inaction means participating in crime.
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