A popular film director who opposed censorship was killed in Iran

Iranian director Dariush Mehrjoui, who won several awards at European film festivals, along with his wife Vahida Mohammadifar, were found murdered in their villa near the outskirts of Tehran on Saturday. The 83-year-old director has repeatedly spoken out against state censorship, a number of opposition representatives believe that the murder could have been political, the Iranian service of Radio Liberty reports.

Mehrjui is one of the representatives of the new wave of Iranian cinematography of the 60s. According to a popular legend, after the Islamists came to power in the country in 1979, the leader of the Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Khomeina, did not forbid cinema, having been impressed by one of the director’s films, “The Cow” (1969). The picture was awarded at the Venice and Berlin film festivals.

The director spoke out in support of Makhsa Amina, who died in 2022 after being detained by the religious police. In the spring of 2022, he published a video criticizing the government for the censorship of his film “A minor”. In this address, he said “I want to fight again, or kill me. This is my chest, beat, beat [в неё]”.

According to the official reports of the authorities, the director and his wife were stabbed, and numerous penetrating wounds were found on their bodies. The authorities reported that the country’s president, Ibrahim Raisi, ordered to take the case under special control.