Six Iranian filmmakers were arrested on September 17th accused of “cover-up to fulfill the needs of the British secret service in exchange for big sums of money.” The Iran culture minister called them subversives and enemies of the Islamic system. Those arrested include filmmakers Mohsen Shahmazdar, Haidi Afarideh, Naser Safarian, Shahnam Bazdar, Mojtaba Mir Tahmaseb and film sales agent Katayoun Shahabi.

They are being held in Tehran’s Evin prison. The timing of the arrest seems to be in reprisal for the BBC Persian service broadcasting a documentary about Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini. None of the filmmakers have any connection with this documentary, nor are they in any way employees or funded by the BBC.

In solidarity with film organizations around the world, we call on the immediate release of the six filmmakers.