Iranian filmmaker imprisoned for a year over his work

Dubai: Iranian filmmaker Keywan Karimi’s production company says he has begun serving a year-long prison sentence handed down over footage authorities deemed insulting.

Paris-based production company Les Films de l’Apres-Midi confirmed on Thursday that Karimi went to prison the previous day. He was found guilty on charges of “insulting sanctities” in Iran in October 2015 and initially sentenced to six years behind bars.

He and his lawyer have said the charges stemmed from an unspecified video clip and a film he directed called Writing on the City that focuses on political graffiti in Iran from its 1979 Islamic Revolution to the contested 2009 election.

In February, an appeals court reduced Karimi’s sentence to one year but kept the requirement that he endure 223 lashes as stipulated in his original sentence.