Authorities in Iran have detained renowned screenwriter and director Mehdi Mahmudyan, who is suspected of helping prepare a statement condemning Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the brutal suppression of protests in the country. At the same time, the document criticizes the use of live ammunition against civilians, mass arrests, persecution of protesters and obstruction of medical aid to the wounded.
In short:
- Iranian authorities detained director Mehdi Mahmudjan
- The reason is to help with the statement against Khamenei and violence
- Together with him, two other activists were detained
The initiator of this statement was the opposition politician and former Iranian Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is under house arrest. The AFP agency reported about it according to the report of the Iranian news agency Fars, writes TASR.
Arrests of activists
Along with Mahmudjan, they also detained a student leader and an activist for women’s rights. All three are among the 17 signatories of the statement against Ayatollah Khamenei. It was also signed by filmmaker Mohammad Rasúlof and Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadíová.
Mahmudján is the co-author of the film It Was Only an Accident, which is nominated for the American film award Oscar in the category of best foreign film. At the film festival in the French resort of Cannes in 2025, the film won the Palme d’Or.
Criticism of detention
The director of this film, Jafar Panahi, criticized the detention of his friend, colleague and former fellow prisoner on social networks. “Mehdi Mahmudjian is not only a defender of human rights and a prisoner of conscience. He is a person who knows how to listen and an exceptional moral authority whose absence is immediately felt, whether in prison or outside,” Panahí wrote.
The German government also criticized the Iranian authorities’ actions. “The detention of Mehdi Mahmudyan is not an isolated case, but part of a system that tries to silence critical voices,” said Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer. “Those who imprison authors are not fighting against art, but against freedom. Mahmudyan must be released because art is not a crime,” he added.
A wave of violence
The detention comes as Iran’s leadership seeks to reassert its authority after a brutal crackdown on a wave of anti-government protests that broke out in December 2025 and culminated on January 8 and 9.
Tehran has admitted thousands of victims of the protests: the presidential office has released the names of 2,986 of the 3,117 people the authorities identified as victims of the riots. According to the authorities, they were mostly members of the security forces and bystanders as victims of “terrorist acts”.
The true extent of casualties
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency confirmed 6,842 deaths in Iran, mostly protesters killed by security forces. Human rights organizations estimate that the true number of victims is likely to be much higher.
Former Prime Minister Mousavi has been under house arrest since 2011, but after the latest protests, he managed to release a statement accusing the government of violence and declaring that “enough is enough”.
