Shayan Ghajar

Iran released acclaimed director Jafar Panahi today from prison following an 88 day detainment, according to the opposition website RaheSabz. Panahi was arrested following statements he made supporting the Green Movement and for political activism on behalf of the opposition. His bail was set at $200,000. His release, and other recent concessions made by the government to political prisoners, indicate Iran may be susceptible to sustained, intensive lobbying campaigns for prisoners’ rights.

Panahi’s detention, by virtue of his fame in global cinema, was highly publicized and occasioned letters of protest from numerous film organizations, human rights groups, and celebrities including, Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Francis Ford Coppola, and Juliet Binoche, among others.

According to Panahi (and as reported by RaheSabz), despite his fame, conditions in prison were very oppressive. In a letter smuggled out of the notorious Evin prison, Panahi alleged that he had been stripped naked and forced to stand in cold environs for well over an hour. His letter also alleges that guards threatened his family while interrogating him, promising to “mistreat [his] daughter” in an unsafe prison facility, a thinly-veiled threat of rape.

Following this incident, Panahi began a hunger strike on May 18 to demand his release and ability to speak with his lawyer and family. His hunger strike was highly publicized in Farsi-language opposition news sites. Pictures taken may 24 of Panahi following his release reveal he has a lost a significant amount of body mass and has far more white hair than on the day of his arrest.

Similar cases in recent weeks demonstrate that pressure on the Islamic Republic has been felt in its judiciary: French national Clotilde Reiss was released this week after detention by the government on charges of committing espionage, and three detained American hikers arrested on Iran’s border with Iraq were allowed to meet with their mothers and share dinner at their hotel. Both cases received a great deal of publicity abroad resulting in widespread international efforts to free the detainees, though the three American hikers remain in detention despite their reunion with family.

A note widely circulated on Iranian university Facebook pages today highlights a troubling aspect of Panahi’s release on bail following international outcry. The note asks about the thousands of nameless, unknown persons detained in a similar manner and facing even harsher punishments and interrogations in prison. Without names and publicity, there will be no international outcry to draw attention to their plight.