Jafar Panahi, outspoken on protest crackdown, says he will return to Iran

Iranian director Jafar Panahi, who has spoken out about deadly crackdowns during nationwide protests in Iran, said on Thursday that he will return to the country once the Oscar campaign for his film "It Was Just an Accident" concludes, despite ongoing threats.

“I have been outside Iran for some time because of the Oscar campaign for this film, but as I have said before, as soon as the campaign ends, I will return to Iran,” Panahi said in an interview with The Atlantic.

Panahi referenced the government’s response to past protests, including internet shutdowns that he said signaled impending violence.

“When the protests broke out, I was in Paris. When they shut down the internet, my friends and I issued a statement saying that when they shut down the internet, it means they are going to commit a big massacre,” he said.

He described the scale of casualties during the unrest as deeply traumatic for the public.

“Now you cannot think about individuals. The numbers are so high and the pain is so strong that people feel they are each other’s family members. So when one person dies, everyone feels the pain, and everyone is in mourning,” he added.