Oscar-Nominated It Was Just an Accident Screenwriter Released on Bail From Iran Prison

Mehdi Mahmoudian, the Oscar-nominated co-writer of Jafar Panahi‘s It Was Just an Accident, has been released from prison in Iran, after 17 days inside, according to local media reports.

Mahmoudian was released from Nowshahr Prison along with Vida Rabbani and Abdollah Momeni, all arrested for signing the so-called “Statement of the Seventeen” condemning the actions of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei in authorizing the crackdown on anti-government protesters last month, which resulted in the massacre of tens of thousands.

The three were reportedly released on bail of 6.5 billion tomans ($10,000) each, a conditional release by the Revolutionary Court through their legal counsel.

“Mehdi Mahmoudian, Vida Rabbani and Abdollah Momeni peacefully exercised their right to express their views, but the regime responded by accusing them of ‘insulting the Supreme Leader’ and ‘propaganda against the Islamic Republic.’” Panahi said in a statement following news of their release. “For years, such charges have been used as tools to criminalize thought, silence criticism and instill fear in society. Turning a civil and peaceful act into a national security case is a clear sign of intolerance toward the independent voices of citizens.”

Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, co-written by Panahi, Mahmoudian, Nader Saeiver and Shadhmer Rastin, won the Palme d’Or at last year’s Cannes film festival and is nominated for two Academy Awards, in the best original screenplay and best international feature categories. The 98th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on March 15.

Mahmoudian is an Iranian writer, human rights defender, political journalist and blogger, who has previously served a five-year prison term (2009-2014) on charges of “mutiny against the regime” for his role in documenting complaints of abuse of detainees at the Kahrizak Detention Center. His reporting help lead to the closure of the detention center in July 2009. Mahmoudian also worked with the Center for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights.

He has spent nearly a decade of his life imprisoned for his civic and journalistic activities. Panahi and Mahmoudian met in prison and the director brought him on as a co-screenwriter to add authenticity and depth to It Was Just an Accident. The film follows ex-prisoners who believe they have spotted their former torturer on the streets of Tehran. After kidnapping him, they struggle to decide whether to take revenge or show mercy.

Mahmoudian, Rabbani and Momeni were three of 17 signatures to the letter that led to their arrest. Other signatories include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi and Nasrin Sotoudeh, winner of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.