Iranian Filmmaker Hailed at Cannes Is Released After Nearly 3 Months in Prison

An Iranian filmmaker jailed for nearly three months was released Tuesday on $200,000 bail, nine days after beginning a hunger strike, the news agency ISNA reported.

The charges against the filmmaker, Jafar Panahi, 49, were never made clear, but the news agency reported that his case was before the Revolutionary Court, which would suggest that the charges were security related. At the time of his detention, the authorities had said he had been arrested for “plans” to make a film about the protests that followed the disputed presidential election last summer.

He was taken to the hospital immediately after his release on Tuesday “for a checkup,” said a relative who would speak only anonymously, for fear of retribution. He had spent 86 days in the notorious Evin prison.

The government has stepped up its efforts to discourage protesters from mounting demonstrations on the first anniversary of the presidential election on June 12. The chief of the Tehran police, Hussein Sajedinia, said Tuesday that the police “will confront any illegal gatherings,” the news agency ILNA reported.

Pro-government forces clashed with students at Islamic Azad University in Tehran over the weekend after students staged anti-government protests, the opposition Jaras Web site reported. At least five students were severely injured, the Web site reported. The authorities have also unleashed a campaign to strictly enforce a dress code for women in Tehran and other large cities.

While relenting in the case of Mr. Panahi — seemingly in response to international pressure — the government has shown few other signs of leniency toward other detainees. The prosecutor general, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, announced on Tuesday that sentences had been “finalized” for 250 detained protesters, with nearly 11 of them sentenced to death — adding to the 9 political prisoners who have been executed since the protests broke out.

At the Cannes Film Festival, Mr. Panahi’s name was raised frequently and his seat on the jury was left empty. As she was presented the award for best actress, Juliette Binoche carried a sign with Mr. Panahi’s name on it and said she hoped he would be at the festival next year, news reports said.

Iranian artists, activists and journalists had also called for his release in recent weeks.

Mr. Panahi had supported the opposition Green Movement and had appeared with a green shawl at an international film festival last summer. Political experts said they believed that his arrest was aimed at sending a tough message to those in the film industry who sympathized with the opposition.

“They certainly wanted to make an example of him for the rest, particularly younger directors, who may have wanted to make films about the protests,” said Maziar Bahari, a filmmaker and journalist who was also jailed on spying charges and sentenced to 13 years in jail in absentia. He was released in the fall and left the country

“The Iranian regime has focused on giving lessons to various groups since last summer to discourage them from political work,” Mr. Bahari said.

Apparently alarmed at the government’s growing campaign of intimidation, the opposition leaders Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi have tried to rally their supporters. “You cannot solve domestic and international problems by closing newspapers and filling the prisons,” Mr. Moussavi said Sunday in a meeting with the families of martyrs from the Iran-Iraq war, according to opposition Web sites.