TEHRAN – Mohammad-Mehdi Tabatabainejad, the director of the Culture Ministry’s Supervision and Evaluation Office, announced on Wednesday that the Tehran prosecutor has overturned the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Court’s October decision to ban the honor killing drama “The Paternal House”.

He said that the ban was lifted by “a special order” from Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi and added, “Undoubtedly, his prudence and other judiciary officials’ cooperation on implementing the order will help unify the cinema community of the country.”

He noted that the order was issued by the efforts made by Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi just hours after the court’s decision to stop screening the film.

Tabatabainejad also expressed his thanks to director Kianush Ayyari for his recent “close cooperation”.

He said that theaters can resume screening the movie on Wednesday.

“The Paternal House” received the approval of cultural authorities for screening on October 23 after a ban of about ten years due to some allegedly violent scenes.

Five days later, however, the controversial movie faced a ban once again after its modifications failed to satisfy the Tehran Public and Revolutionary Court.

In a statement, the court said, “The film contains scenes insulting the Iranian people’s religious beliefs, promoting violence against women, undermining the perfect Iranian-Islamic traditions and culture, and representing a false and distorted image of the Iranian family.”

The court also said that no modifications had been made to “The Paternal House” and “all the culprits will be prosecuted.”

On November 2, in a letter sent to Raisi, the Iranian House of Cinema, which is the official guild of Iranian cineastes, asked for an urgent meeting with him.

“We urge the rule of law without any one-sided interpretation,” the organization wrote in the letter.

Photo: Mehdi Hashemi (L) and Shahab Hosseini act in a scene from “The Paternal House”.

MMS/YAW