Iran's Jafar Panahi tells Berlinale to postpone tribute out of respect for protesters

By Miranda Murray and Hanna Rantala

BERLIN, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Iranian director Jafar Panahi had told the Berlin Film Festival not to hold a ceremony to present him in person with the Golden Bear prize he won in absentia in 2015 out of respect for those killed in the government's violent crackdown on protesters, he said on Thursday.

"Right now in Iran, no one asks 'are you okay?' because no one is okay," he said at a talk organised by the festival.

Anti-government protests across Iran since December have triggered the bloodiest crackdown by authorities since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, drawing global condemnation.

TWO OSCAR NOMINATIONS

Speaking through a translator, Panahi, whose film "It Was Just a Simple Accident" is nominated for two Oscars, described the crackdown that has left thousands dead as "mass slaughter".

People are not even allowed to mourn their dead, he said, so they resist by playing music and dancing at their graves.

"To commemorate the victims in Iran, whose 40th day of mourning it is, let us give them a round of applause, just like their families do," he told the crowd in the German capital.

PLANS TO RETURN TO IRAN

Panahi was able to leave Iran for the first time in 15 years last year after a travel ban was lifted, allowing him to attend the Cannes Film Festival where he won the festival's top prize.

Including his wins in Berlin with "Taxi" in 2015 and at Venice for "The Circle" in 2000, Panahi has achieved the rare honour of winning the top prize at all three major European film festivals.

He said on Thursday that he planned to go back to Iran after the Oscar ceremony in mid-March, even though he was sentenced to a one-year prison sentence in absentia for propaganda activities against the government.

"If I were, for example, a doctor, what is a doctor's duty? To save lives, and they can save lives anywhere in the world."

But he said his particular work depended on being in Iran.

"With the job I have, the cinema I make, I can do my work there, I can do what I love," said Panahi.

Reporting by Miranda Murray and Hanna Rantala; editing by Barbara Lewis