Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been sentenced in absentia in Iran to one year in prison and a travel ban, according to his lawyer via the AFP news agency.

Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said the sentence includes a two-year travel ban and prohibition of Panahi from membership of any political or social groups. He added that they would file an appeal.

The charges against the filmmaker were that he had engaged in “propaganda activities” against the state, but Nili did not elaborate.

Panahi was recently in the U.S. to promote his Cannes-winning film “It Was Just an Accident,” and is due to attend the Marrakech Film Festival on Thursday, where the film screens. It has been selected by France as its official submission for the Academy Awards in the international feature film

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