IranWire

More than 50 armed officers raided the home of Iranian filmmaker Ali Ahmadzadeh without a warrant on Saturday, according to filmmaker Jafar Panahi.

The officers confiscated cameras, laptops, paintings, and personal items before ordering Ahmadzadeh at gunpoint to report to the Ministry of Intelligence the next day, Panahi wrote on Instagram.

Ahmadzadeh directed Crisis Zone, which screened at the Haifa Film Festival. He has made three feature films.

His 2012 film Kami’s Party was denied public screening permission and later released online by the filmmaker.

Atom Heart Mother (Madar-e Ghalb-e Atomi) premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2015 and received limited screening in Iran in 2016 after censorship, but was quickly pulled from theaters.

His third film, The Phenomenon, remains banned from public screening.

Cultural activists called the raid “state terrorism.” The raids come as President Masoud Pezeshkian’s government says it wants dialogue with dissidents and the return of expatriate artists.

Panahi called the raid “psychological terrorism” against artists.