No Happy New Year for Jafar Panahi

I was watching NECN News this morning and noticed on the crawl something about the Iranian government releasing some activists and "a filmmaker" in celebration of the Iranian New Year. Could it have been Jafar Panahi?

Checking out the story on-line, it turns out the lucky filmmaker was Mohammad Rasoulof, who was arrested on March 1 along with Panahi and 14 other people (including Panahi's wife) who have since been released. Panahi alone remains in custody.

Numerous groups and individuals, including the Toronto Film Critics Association Federation of European Film Directors, the European Film Academy, the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Human Rights Watch, have protested this persecution of a brave and brilliant artist. You can add your voice by signing this petition.