Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi released on bail after hunger strike

The acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been released on bail after starting a hunger strike to protest against his almost seven-month detention, a rights group and reports said on Friday.

Panahi has been released from Evin prison in Tehran “two days after starting his hunger strike for freedom”, the US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) said on Twitter. Iran’s Shargh newspaper posted an image of Panahi jubilantly embracing a supporter.

The Cannes film festival award winner and director of The White Balloon, The Circle and No Bears went on hunger strike earlier this week after previous hopes for his release were dashed.

Panahi was arrested in early July, before the current wave of demonstrations, after he went to Evin to protest against the detention days earlier of two film-maker colleagues, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad.