Iranian director Mostafa al-Ahmad, one of three prominent filmmakers detained as part of a broad crackdown against dissent, has been sentenced to more than six years in prison.
The Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran handed Ahmad three cumulative prison sentences: three years and eight months for illegal assembly and collusion, eight months for propaganda against Iran, and two years for publishing falsehoods.
The court also ordered him to pay a fine of 150 million rials ($450), banned him from leaving the country for two years, and forbade him to take part in social or political groups.
Ahmad, 52, was arrested in July as the authorities cracked down on dissent in response to growing anti-establishment sentiment and near-daily protests across the Islamic republic.
Fellow filmmakers Mohammad Rasulof and Jafar Panahi were arrested around the same time.
The arrests have prompted international criticism.
Just days prior to his arrest, Ahmad had joined a group of more than 300 Iranian filmmakers in publishing an open letter calling on the security forces to "lay down arms" in the face of public outrage over "corruption, theft, inefficiency, and repression" following the violent crackdown against those protesting a building collapse in May in the southwestern city of Abadan, which killed 41 people.
Ahmad's lawyers said they would appeal the sentence, which comes amid anti-government protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, after she was taken into custody by morality police for the alleged improper wearing of a headscarf or hijab.
