Imprisoned Kurdish filmmaker denied hospitalization

TEHRAN, Iran (Kurdistan24) – Kaywan Karimi, a Kurdish filmmaker who is serving prison time in Iran, was prevented from hospitalization, local sources told Kurdistan24.

Kurdish journalist Kaveh Ghoreishi told Kurdistan24 Karimi was prevented from going to a hospital despite suffering from “acute bronchitis and a lung infection.”

Doctors recommended Karimi required immediate attention in a reasonable facility, but authorities denied him medical care, Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported.

Karimi, an independent Kurdish filmmaker from Baneh, Kurdistan Province, was charged with “insulting sanctities” for his documentary “Writing on the City.”

The documentary presented the political graffiti in Tehran objecting the suppression in the country from the 1979 Islamic Revolution through Iran’s 2009 post-presidential election crisis.

Originally sentenced to six years in prison and 223 lashes, Karimi’s sentence was later reduced to one year. The filmmaker is now free pending appeal.

He made the black-and-white “Drum” recounting the story of a lawyer in Tehran who receives a package in the mail causing an upheaval in his life.

In 2013, Karimi spent 15 days in solitary confinement for “insulting religious values.” He was subsequently tried and convicted but continued his filmmaking.

“I have no intention of leaving the country and shall serve the sentence,” he said.

In December, French filmmakers asked France and other European countries to pressure Iran to release Karimi.

His conviction was a cause célèbre during the Cannes Festival in May.

Karimi is known among international film critics for his 2013 black-and-white minimalist film “The Adventure of the Married Couple.”

The film played in some 40 festivals, winning prizes in Spain and Colombia.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany