Montreal filmmaker Mehrnoushe Solouki, who was arrested in Iran after stumbling across a mass grave, says she believes the government is using her as a warning to other dual citizens.

Montreal filmmaker Mehrnoushe Solouki is accused of intent to make propoganda against the Iranian government.
(Courtesy of Mehrnoushe Soulouki)

In an exclusive interview with CBC, the 38-year-old describes her ordeal since she was arrested in February and placed behind bars in Iran's notorious Evin prison.

"My solitary confinement was like stepping into a grave. There was nothing, I was sleeping on the floor and there was a 24/7 light bulb on over my head," she said through a translator.

The doctoral student with the University of Quebec in Montreal is accused of the "intent of committing propaganda" and is prohibited from leaving Iran during her closed-door trial, though she has since been released from prison.

Solouki is a dual French-Iranian citizen and landed immigrant in Canada. She moved to Montreal in 2003.

'Nothing like a cemetery'

Solouki went to Iran to film a documentary last December and said she had permission from the government to film.

She said she's been making documentaries in the country for years, but it wasn't until she happened upon a huge graveyard that she was arrested.

"It was nothing like a cemetery. And it was obvious that thousands of people were buried under these stones and dust. And when I asked some of the people who were there, they said that nobody is talking about these people," Solouki told CBC.

Iranian security forces picked her up after she spoke with a professor, who according to Solouki believes what happened to the people in the grave is a crime against humanity.

Radio Free Europe reported in early November that the grave contained the bodies of regime opponents executed in 1988.

But Solouki argues her work isn't political.

'Blown out of proportion'

Several agencies have taken up Solouki's cause, including Amnesty International and the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

Documentary filmmaker and friend Denis McCready has also spearheaded a Canadian effort with the creation of the Free Solouki group.

"You ask youself, 'What would I want people to do if I was in the same situation?' And it's pretty obvious you'd want people to try to get you out of there," he said.

He's hoping the Iranian government realizes that her case is an "insignificant" one that's been "blown out of proportion."

Solouki's closed-door trial in Tehran adjourned on Saturday to a yet-to-be-determined date.

Iranian authorities have a history of cracking down on journalists. In one of the most well-known cases, 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 protest.

The full interview with Solouki can be heard on CBC Radio's Q at 2 p.m. ET Monday.