Award-winning Iranian film maker Jafar Panahi has been released from jail on bail, two days after he went on hunger strike over his imprisonment.
He was seen hugging supporters and being driven away from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison on Friday.
Mr Panahi, 62, was arrested last July when he protested against the detention of two fellow filmmakers, who had been critical of the authorities.
His wife told the BBC he was told he had an outstanding jail term to serve.
Tahereh Saeedi said at the time that his detention – several months before the ongoing anti-government protests erupted – amounted to a kidnapping.
Mr Panahi has won many awards at international film festivals. They include the Berlin International Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear, for Taxi in 2015, as well as the Best Screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival, for Three Faces in 2018.
The Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux expressed “great relief” over the film maker’s release.
“We do not forget all those, in Iran and around the world, who are subjected to violence and repression,” Mr Fremaux told the AFP news agency. “The Cannes Film Festival will always remain alongside artists from all over the world in defence of freedom.”
Iran’s judiciary denied the hunger strike claim and said the photos were from four years ago when Mr Meysami, a physician, did go on hunger strike, Reuters reports.
Mr Meysami has been in jail since 2018 for publicly supporting women activists.