to the Iranian Mission to the United Nationals last week demanding freedom for Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof.
Organized by Amnesty International, the petition included the signatures of Martin Scorsese, Mia Farrow, Ron Howard and Susan Sarandon and was delivered to the Iranian Mission in Manhattan by Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis, actress and activist Trudie Styler, and AI USA Executive Director Larry Cox.
“The treatment of Jafar Panahi and Mohammand Rasoulof is an outrageous human rights injustice,” Haggis said. “We stand here to demand that the government of Iran overturn their sentences.”
Iranian-born actress Naza-nin Boniadi said she was heartbroken to “see this aggressive and brutal rights clampdown in my home country. The charges against Panahi and Rasoulof are ludicrous. The sentences are inhumane.”
The Iranian government, however, was not eager to accept the box of signatures and a protocol officer first told the deliverers he could only accept the cover letter. After much negotiation, the unnamed protocol officer agreed to accept the petition box. Haggis, who would not leave without handing over all the signatures, held up each petition paper and signed postcard picturing Panahi for inspection.
He left the mission lobby saying, “We’ve done what we came to do. The Iranian government has received our petitions and we hope this will have an impact and change the situation for Jafar Panahi.” The small crowd, mostly of reporters and photographers who had been filming the exchange through the lobby windows, cheered.