Those Who Said No

Iran, January 16th, 1979. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees after being overthrown. Ayatollah Khomeini returns to Tehran and proclaims the Islamic Republic on April 1st, 1979. In the same year, Saddam Hussein seizes power in Iraq and, after several border skirmishes, attacks Iran on September 22nd, 1980, initiating a cruel war that will last eight years. Since its outbreak, correspondent Saeid Sadeghi documented it from its beginning to its bitter end.

A documentary that takes us into one of the world’s most unique settings: an Afghan women's prison. A prison where prisoners neither regret nor are ashamed of the 'crimes' they have been locked up for. These women have committed 'moral crimes'. With their lives at stake they fled the violence for the sake of dignity and love.

PRISON SISTERS takes us through the journey of two young women who have been released from prison in Afghanistan. Outside prison, the respite they experienced in prison is replaced with death threats and violence. As women and former inmates, Sara and Najibeh lacks any right to exist. Sara's uncle intends to kill her an attempt to reclaim his honor in their small village. Fearing for her life Sara escapes to Sweden she applies for asylum but Najibeh stays behind. While Sara struggles to understand her newfound freedom, her prison-mate Najibeh disappears and soon Sara hears that she was stoned to death. Sara and the filmmaker want to find out the truth, only to encounter a maze of half- truths on the streets of Afghanistan. We follow the two main characters, revealing what happened to them - each with an exceptional fate depicting the horrific reality for women in Afghanistan.

The gripping story of how Iranian Hamid Noury was lured to Sweden in an elaborate plan, where he was arrested, tried, and convicted of gross violations of international law and murder. Through court testimonies and historical accountsfrom victims of the regime, the film explores a history of political violence, grief, resistance, and fragile justice.