Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose film "The Salesman" is nominated for the foreign language film Oscar, has said that he will not attend the Oscars even if exceptions are made to allow him entry to the US.
This comes after President Donald Trump signed the executive order on Friday to suspend entry of refugees to the US for 120 days, and imposed an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria. A 90-day ban was also placed on citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
"I regret to announce via this statement that I have decided to not attend the Academy Awards Ceremony alongside my fellow members of the cinematic community," Farhadi said in a statement according to Variety.
While he had originally considered attending, the director said the uncertainty around him getting a visa is in no way acceptable to him even if exceptions were for his trip.
"To humiliate one nation with the pretext of guarding the security of another is not a new phenomenon in history and has always laid the groundwork for the creation of future divide and enmity.
"I hereby express my condemnation of the unjust conditions forced upon some of my compatriots and the citizens of the other six countries trying to legally enter the United States of America and hope that the current situation will not give rise to further divide between nations," his statement concluded.
An Academy spokesperson had issued a statement on Saturday describing as "extremely troubling" the prospect that Farhadi, along with the cast and crew of "The Salesman, could be barred from entering the country because of their religion or country of origin.
Taraneh Alidoosti, the star of Farhadi's film "The Salesman" had previously spoken up on Twitter after Trump proposed the ban, to announce that she "won't attend the #AcademyAwards 2017 in protest."
Farhadi's film "A Separation" won an Academy Award for best foreign film in 2012. "The Salesman" tells the story of a young couple who play the lead roles in Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman.
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