Is Iran a menace to the world? The flight of a dissident director has put the spotlight on the theocratic regime’s ruthless approach to its enemies both at home and abroad.
Movie genius on the run after flogging threat
Hiding: Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (above) says he will attend the Cannes Film Festival. Glossary
Tehran - The capital of Iran.
Paranoid - Believing, often with no solid basis, that you are being harassed, betrayed or persecuted by others.
Hijabs - Head coverings worn by some Muslim women.
Flogging - Beating someone with a whip or stick.
Ayatollah Khameini - The supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He was born in 1939.
Mahsa Amini - A 22-year-old woman who died after being arrested by Iran's strict morality police in September 2022, sparking widespread protests.
MI5 - A British military intelligence organisation tasked with monitoring domestic threats, in opposition to MI6, which focuses on foreign threats.
Home secretary - In Britain, they are responsible for national security, immigration and policing.
Houthis - An Islamist rebel group that controls a large part of Yemen. They are allies of Hamas in Gaza.
Hezbollah - A militant organisation based in Lebanon, classified in the UK as a terrorist group. It has made direct attacks on Israel and is believed to have been responsible for assassinating Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
Dissidents - People who publicly disagree with or criticise an authority or government, especially an oppressive one.