Oscar-Nominated ‘It Was Just an Accident’ Co-Screenwriter Mehdi Mahmoudian Has Been Released from Iranian Prison

Iran has released Mehdi Mahmoudian, Oscar-nominated co-writer with Jafar Panahi of Palme d’Or-winner “It Was Just An Accident,” from Nowshahr Prison, as reported Tuesday.

Journalist Vida Rabbani and activist Abdollah Momeni, who were arrested with Mahmoudian in January, were also released after 17 days of incarceration. Rabbani and Momeni, along with Mahmoudian, had signed the “Statement of the Seventeen” letter, which condemned the actions of the Islamic Republic of Iran leader Ali Khamenei.

Over the past 15 years, filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been imprisoned, blindfolded, interrogated, and put under house arrest with a 20-year ban on making films. The filmmaker, who spoke on the Writers Panel at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Saturday, said that during the recent protests in Iran, “the regime, only within two days, killed about 30 to 40,000 people. … It is clear that families went together into the protests with their children, meaning that people did not have any intentions for violence. It was supposed to be peaceful. But when dictators reach their end, they tend to increase massacres, murders, and violence more.”

Explaining what led to the recent string of arrests, Panahi said, “A group of us, 17 of us, including myself and other filmmakers, people who have won the Nobel Peace Prize, university professors, civil rights activists, and journalists got together and issued a statement, and in that statement, we put the blame on the highest person in the country, meaning Ali Khamenei, as the sole person who’s responsible for the massacres. And then they arrested four more people, and Mehdi Mahmoudian was one of them. They called a few others into questioning and interrogations. Some of us also have sentences, including myself. I have a one-year sentence to go back to prison.”

Panahi plans to return to Iran after the Oscars. “I know it might be difficult to understand how my existence is shared with my colleagues, my family members, my mother, my siblings, and those of my friends who are still in Iran and are banned from working,” he said. “They all consist of half of my being. This other half of me keeps reminding me that if I don’t go back, it is as if I have turned my back [on] my friends and family, and I have left them alone. I believe it is that half of me that is dominating, and it wins over me and my advantages and what is best for me.”

‘It Was Just an Accident’Neon

The three prisoners were reportedly released on bail of $6.5 billion tomans (roughly $10,000) each, a conditional release by the Revolutionary Court through their legal counsel.

“It Was Just An Accident” was co-written by Panahi, Mahmoudian, Nader Saeivar, and Shadmehr Rastin. Each of the screenwriters is nominated for Best Original Screenplay. The film is also nominated for Best International Feature Film.

Iranian writer, human rights defender, political journalist, and blogger Mahmoudian previously served a five-year prison term (2009-2014) on charges of “mutiny against the regime” for his role in documenting complaints of abuse of detainees at the Kahrizak Detention Center. The detention center was closed in July 2009 after Mahmoudian and others documented the pervasive abuse. Mahmoudian also worked with the Center for the Defense of Prisoners’ Rights. He has spent nearly a decade of his life imprisoned for his civic and journalistic activities, an experience explored in the screenplay for “It Was Just an Accident.”

“It Was Just an Accident” has won prizes from top film critics groups, including the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the National Society of Film Critics, and was nominated at the Golden Globes, and Critics Choice awards. “It Was Just an Accident” also won three Gotham Awards, including Best International Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Read the statement by 17 Activists that led to the three thee arrests below:

“Khamenei Is Responsible for These Horrific Times in Iran”

“Honorable, courageous, and grieving people of Iran,

“The mass and systematic killing of citizens who bravely took to the streets to bring an end to an illegitimate regime constitutes an organized state crime against humanity. The use of live ammunition against civilians, the killing of tens of thousands, the arrest and persecution of tens of thousands more, the assault on the wounded, the obstruction of medical care, and the killing of injured protesters amount to nothing less than an assault on Iran’s national security and a betrayal of the country.

“The primary responsibility for these atrocities lies with Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, and the repressive structure of the regime. This authoritarian apparatus has relied on mass killings to ensure its survival while ignoring the basic and inalienable rights of citizens—including the fundamental right to seek change in the political system. The systematic labeling of protesters as “seditionists,” “rioters,” “vandals,” or “terrorists affiliated with enemies” is a deliberate attempt to deny the Iranian people their basic right to self-determination.

“The bitter experiences of recent decades have demonstrated that the principal obstacle to rescuing Iran from its current crisis is Ali Khamenei and the regime of religious despotism he leads. Each day this regime remains in power, it deepens society’s collapse, spreads death and destruction, and drives the country further toward irreversible ruin. For years, Iran has been trapped in crises caused by ill-conceived confrontational policies, and today, the risk of war—resulting directly from the continuation of this regime—looms over the nation more than ever.

“At this critical historical moment, when the future of Iran is darker than at any other time, we reaffirm the urgent necessity of justice for those killed and the immediate release of all political prisoners. While we recognize that unchecked power does not willingly submit to change, we believe that the only path to saving Iran lies in the prosecution of all those who ordered and carried out acts of repression and in bringing an end to the un-republican and inhumane ruling regime.

“We call for the formation of a broad national front to organize a referendum and establish a constituent assembly, enabling all Iranians of all political beliefs to participate in a democratic and transparent process to determine their political future.

“We warn that failure to pursue this path will condemn Iran to a devastating cycle of violence.

“May the sun of freedom rise over our people and our homeland.”

January 28, 2026

Signatories: Ghorban Behzadian-Nejad; Jafar Panahi; Amirsalar Davoudi; Vida Rabbani; Mohammad Rasoulof; Hossein Razagh; Nasrin Sotoudeh; Abolfazl Ghadyani; Hatam Ghaderi; Abbas Sadeghi; Manzar Zarrabi; Nargess Foundation; Mehdi Mahmoudian; Saeed Madani; Abdollah Momeni; Mohammad Najafi; Sedigheh Vasmaghi