Award winning director Jafar Panahi has been arrested in his home country of Iran, it was reported today.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi has reportedly been detained by Iranian security forces.

His son, speaking to an Iranian opposition website today, said that Panahi had been arrested on Monday night at his home, together with his wife, Mahnaz Mohammadi, daughter and 15 guests.

Panahi, who won the Camera d’Or award at Cannes for his debut feature The White Balloon and took the Golden Lion prize at Venice for The Circle, was a vocal supporter of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in last year’s disputed presidentaial election in Iran.

Last month, organisers of the Berlin Film Festival said that a travel ban had prevented the director from attending the event.

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