Iranian film director released on $200,000 bail
• Move follow Juliette Binoche speech at Cannes
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Juliette Binoche protests against the jailing of Iranian director Jafar Panahi as she receives the best actress award at Cannes film festival. Photograph: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images
Jafar Panahi, the Iranian filmmaker, was freed on bail today as the authorities warned they would crack down on illegal protests on the anniversary of last year's disputed presidential election.
Panahi, 49, was released from Tehran's Evin prison on bail of $200,000 (£140,000) a week after starting a hunger strike that captured the sympathy of the Cannes film festival, where he was due to be a juror.
During her acceptance speech for best actress on Sunday, Juliette Binoche launched an impassioned attack on Iran for holding Panahi. "His fault is to be an artist, to be independent," she said.
Abbas Kiarostami, Iran's best-known director, also in Cannes, described Panahi's imprisonment as "an attack on art". Steven Spielberg, Robert De Niro, and Robert Redford appealed for his release.
Ominously, the Tehran prosecutor's office said that Panahi's file and the charges against him had been sent to a revolutionary court that deals with security offences. It did not detail the charges.
Panahi, who supported the Green movement leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the presidential race, was arrested in March at his Tehran home with his wife and daughter. They were later freed.
A state prosecutor said the detention was not political. However, the Iranian culture minister, Mohammad Hosseini, said last month that Panahi was detained for making an "anti-regime" film about the unrest. He had previously been arrested for taking part in a memorial service for Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman allegedly shot dead by a government militiaman during post-election protests. He was then banned from leaving the country.
Meanwhile, Hossein Sajedi, the Tehran police chief, warned that security forces would confront any "illegal" protests on 12 June, marking the day when the hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner despite expectations that Mousavi would triumph. Link
