Jafar Panahi: Prominent Iranian film director leaves jail

Jafar Panahi (left) was seen with his wife Tahereh Saeedi after the couple left Evin prison

Award-winning Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi has been released from jail on bail, two days after he went on hunger strike over his imprisonment.

He was seen hugging supporters and being driven away from Tehran's notorious Evin prison on Friday.

Mr Panahi, 62, was arrested last July when he protested against the detention of two fellow filmmakers, who had been critical of the authorities.

His wife told the BBC he was told he had an outstanding jail term to serve.

Tahereh Saeedi said at the time that his detention - several months before the ongoing anti-government protests erupted - amounted to a kidnapping.

Mr Panahi has won many awards at international film festivals. They include the Berlin International Film Festival's top prize, the Golden Bear, for Taxi in 2015, as well as the Best Screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival, for Three Faces in 2018.

The Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux expressed "great relief" over the film maker's release.

"We do not forget all those, in Iran and around the world, who are subjected to violence and repression," Mr Fremaux told the AFP news agency. "The Cannes Film Festival will always remain alongside artists from all over the world in defence of freedom."

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Film makers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Al-e Ahmad were arrested over social media posts concerning the collapse of a 10-storey building in the city of Abadan last May that killed more than 40 people. They were accused of "inciting unrest and disrupting the psychological security of society", Iran's state media reported.

In a separate development, photos have emerged on social media purportedly showing an emaciated jailed Iranian dissident, Farhad Meysami.

Mr Meysami, 53, is now on hunger strike, his lawyer says.

Some reports suggest he has been refusing food for weeks.

Amnesty International said the images "are a shocking reminder of the Iranian authorities' contempt for human rights"

In a letter, a copy of which has been seen by BBC Persian, Mr Meysami repeated his previous demands: an end to executions of protesters and to the government's headscarf policy for women, and the release of political prisoners.

Amnesty International said the photos "are a shocking reminder of the Iranian authorities' contempt for human rights".

Iran's judiciary denied the hunger strike claim and said the photos were from four years ago when Mr Meysami, a physician, did go on hunger strike, Reuters reports.

Mr Meysami has been in jail since 2018 for publicly supporting women activists.