Kurdish director Kaiwan Karimi. Photo courtesy of Karimi
Kurdish-Iranian director was sentenced to six years in prison and 223 lashes for including a kissing scene in his latest film.
The scene was never actually filmed after the actress backed out.
Rudaw reported:
Kurdish director Kaiwan Karimi has been sentenced to six years imprisonment by a judge of the 28th branch of Iran’s revolutionary court.
Muhammad Moghise, the judge presiding over the ruling said that Karimi had insulted the scared values and promoted illegitimate relations and contact through kissing.
In addition to the tough prison sentence, he is to receive 223 lashes.
In a rare telephone conversation with Rudaw Karimi, 30 and a native of the Kurdish city of Baneh, rejected the accusations and decried his sentencing.
“I’ve made a film about the government, social conditions, graffiti on the walls and the working class,” he said. “It is for people to judge my films. I don’t know why I should be punished like this.”
Karimi’s lawyer, Amir Raisyan said that the director has been sentenced for an idea and nothing more.
According to Raisyan, Karimi received the harsh sentence for a scene that he intended to film.
“He wanted to film a scene but because he didn’t reach an agreement with the actress it didn’t happen,” Raisyan told Rudaw.
Director Kaiwan Karimi won the Italian Tolva award in 2012 for Violated Borders.