Both filmmaker Keywan Karimi and his lawyer Amir Raeisian say a court sentenced him on charges of "insulting sanctities" in Iran, whose elected government is ultimately overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
They say the footage involved both a "video clip" and a film he directed called "Writing on the City," which focuses on political graffiti in Tehran during its 1979 Islamic Revolution and following its contested 2009 election.