Iranian director Jafar Panahi goes on hunger strike in jail

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who has been in jail for the last six months, has protested with a hunger strike in Evan's prison.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the No Bears filmmaker's wife, Tahereh Saeidi, took to Instagram to announce the protest action.

The 62-year-old released statement from his prison cell, saying, "This arrest was more like banditry and hostage-taking than the execution of a judicial sentence.

The Caméra d'Or winner stated he would not take any food, drink or medicine until his freedom from prison.

"I will remain in this state until perhaps my lifeless body is freed from prison," Panahi continued.

Meanwhile, the Iranian authorities reactivated a six-year sentence initially handed out to Panahi in 2010 with a 20-year filmmaking and travel ban.

The sentence was linked to his appearance at the 2009 funeral of a student killed in the Green Revolution.