Iran has stepped up pressure on filmmakers who have made anti-government statements ahead of the release of a blacklist of filmmakers banned from working in the Islamic republic.
Mostafa al-Ahmad, one of the three prominent filmmakers jailed last month in Iran as part of a broad crackdown, was released on bail on August 10. He had contracted COVID-19 in prison.
The wife of a jailed Iranian filmmaker and activist says her husband was taken to the hospital for treatment of COVID-19 but was returned to prison without going through treatment.
As prominent cultural figures in Iran urge the authorities to stop using force against protesting civilians, Tehran is resorting to arrests and the activation of aged jail sentences in an attempt to silence them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iran on July 19 to bolster ties with Tehran. In only his second trip abroad after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, Putin met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.