CANNES, France (AP) — After being sentenced to eight years in prison, the award-winning Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof says he’s fled to Europe shortly ahead of the Cannes Film Festival premiere of his latest film.

“I arrived in Europe a few days ago after a long and complicated journey,” Rasoulof said in a statement dated Sunday and distributed by press agents Monday.

Last week, Rasoulof’s lawyer told The Associated Press that the director had been sentenced to eight years in prison, flogging and confiscation of property by the Islamic Republic. Rasoulof’s attorney, Babak Paknia, said the filmmaker was being punished for making films and signing statements.

Iranian authorities haven’t yet acknowledged Rasoulof’s sentence and there was no immediate comment on his departure. Rasoulof and other artists had co-signed a letter urging authorities to put down their weapons amid demonstrations over a 2022 building collapse that killed at least 29 people in the southwestern city of Abadan.