Celebrated Iranian film director Jafar Panahi, who has been in custody since March, was released on bail on Tuesday, his wife told AFP, confirming a statement from the Tehran prosecutor’s office.
"Yes, he has been freed. He is fine. We are taking him to the doctor," Tahereh Saeedi told AFP by telephone after her husband’s release.
She added that they wanted the doctor to "prescribe a diet" for Panahi.
The director, she said, had embarked on a hunger strike to protest at the conditions of his detention and to press his demand that he be released on bail pending the setting of a trial date.
The Tehran prosecutor’s office earlier Tuesday issued statement carried by most news agencies that Panahi was released on bail.
"Jafar Panahi was released from Tehran’s Evin prison on Tuesday after posting bail of two billion rials (around $200,000)," the statement said.
The prosecutor’s office said that Panahi’s case file and the charges against him had now been sent to the revolutionary court, which deals with security offences.
It did not detail the nature of the charges.
A vocal backer of Iran’s opposition movement, Panahi, 49, was arrested at his home on March 1 along with 16 other people, including his wife and daughter. Most were subsequently released.
Culture Minister Mohammad Hosseini said in April that Panahi was detained for making an "anti-regime" film about the unrest that rocked Iran after last year’s disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
However, soon after his arrest, Dolatabadi said Panahi was not arrested for political reasons or because he was an artist. He was "accused of some crimes and arrested with another person following an order by a judge."
His release comes three days after the conclusion of the 63rd Cannes film festival which he had been invited to attend as part of the jury that decides the winner of the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.
Panahi is known for his gritty, socially critical movies such as the "Circle," which bagged the 2000 Venice Golden Lion award, "Crimson Gold," and "Offside," winner of the 2006 Silver Bear at the Berlin film festival.
In February, the authorities banned Panahi from leaving the country to attend the Berlin film festival.
Repeated calls for Panahi’s release had been made since his arrest, including at Cannes where the festival concluded on Sunday.
The ILNA news agency at the weekend cited a letter signed by 85 mostly young and upcoming Iranian directors as demanding he be freed.
The Cannes film festival and the French government had also condemned the jailing of Panahi, while French actress Juliette Binoche wept when she heard that he was on hunger strike.
Panahi’s mentor and countryman Abbas Kiarostami, whose movie "Certified Copy" failed to clinch this year’s Palme d’Or, last week denounced from Cannes the Iranian authorities’ crackdown on artists and called for Panahi’s release.
"When a film-maker, an artist is imprisoned it is art as a whole that is attacked," Kiarostami told reporters after a press screening of his "Certified Copy" on May 18, for which Binoche won best actress award.
Prominent international filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee and Oliver Stone had also joined the chorus calling for Panahi’s release.
In a message read out at Cannes, Panahi denied any wrongdoing.
"I am innocent. I have not made any film against the Iranian regime," he said.
