Mehrnoushe Solouki, a Montreal filmmaker, appeared at a closed-door trial in Tehran accused of the "intent of committing propaganda" against the Iranian government, according to a group petitioning for her release.

Montreal filmmaker Mehrnoushe Soulouki was arrested in Iran after discovering a suspected mass grave while filming a documentary on burial rites of religious minorities.
(Courtesy of Merhrnoushe Soulouki)

The Free Solouki group, organized by Solouki's filmmaker friend Denis McCready, says the 38-year-old doctoral student with the University of Quebec in Montreal attended a three-hour session on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. local time.

Solouki answered the judge's questions and then the trial was adjourned to a yet-to-be determined date. Neither her parents nor her friends were allowed to attend.

The filmmaker is prohibited from leaving Iran.

Solouki moved from France to Montreal in 2003 and is a French citizen and a landed immigrant in Canada.

She went to Iran to film a documentary last December and had a permit from the Iranian government to do so.

According to a Nov. 7 report by Radio Free Europe (RFE), Solouki's film concerns the burial rites of Iran's religious minorities. It says that when she stumbled upon a mass grave of regime opponents executed in 1988, the authorities took notice.

Held in solitary confinement

The filmmaker was arrested in February and held in Iran's notorious Evin prison in solitary confinement for a month. Her video camera, computer and other materials were seized by authorities.

Mehrnoushe Solouki says she has lived in fear since her arrest and detention back in February.
(Courtesy of Merhrnoushe Soulouki)

Her parents in France mortgaged their home to pay about $116,000 Cdn in bail to win her release in March.

Solouki told RFE she was arrested despite the fact she had no footage of the mass grave.

"For the past nine months, I have lived with fear the whole time," Solouki said in the interview. "The pressure includes mental as well as monetary pressure — mental pressure because I am extremely worried about my safety."

Her friends say she was also a victim of a suspicious accident in July when a motorcyclist knocked her down and in a statement released on Saturday, said it was urgent that Solouki be "allowed to receive proper medical care in France."

Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based organization, have taken up her case and regularly report on her situation.

Iranian authorities have a history of cracking down on journalists.

Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi died in Iranian custody in 2003, three weeks after she was arrested for taking pictures outside Evin prison during a student protest.