The court ruled: The Oscar-winning director stole an idea from his student Israel today

Oscar-winning Iranian director Asgar Farhadi has been convicted in a Tehran court of stealing an idea for his latest film, "A Hero."

The lawsuit was filed by a former Farhadi student, who claimed that the acclaimed director stole the idea from a documentary she directed, "All Winners All Losers."

According to a report by the Hollywood Reporter website, the court ruled that Farhadi took key elements from the documentary without giving credit to the creator and is therefore guilty of copyright infringement.

A court in Tehran has also dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Farhadi Hashash against the same former student.

Farhadi is currently awaiting sentencing, and has no way to appeal the court's decision.

In the worst case, he will have to transfer to the plaintiff all the revenues of the film so far, which stand at about $ 2.5 million.

Imprisonment is also possible.

The 49-year-old Farhadi's film won an award at the recent Cannes Film Festival and was the Iranian nominee for this year's Oscars.

The plot deals with a debt-ridden prisoner, whose life is turned upside down after he tries to do a good deed and return to his owner a bag full of money that falls into his hands.

From the movie "A Hero",

According to the plaintiff, the idea for the film was born during Farhadi's workshop in which she participated.

She further claimed that Farhadi later asked her to sign a document stating that the idea for the film was actually his own and that she had nothing to do with it.

Although Farhadi admitted in court that his film was based on the same true story that formed the basis of the student's film, he claimed that he conducted an independent investigation and this exempted him from giving credit to her or her film.

Farhadi burst onto the world cinema scene with his 2011 film Farewell, which won the Oscar for foreign film and became an international hit.

Four years later Farhadi won an Oscar again, this time for the film "The Agent".

In interviews promoting his latest film, Farhadi said he was inspired by reading newspapers and said he did not focus on a specific case.

According to Farhadi's lawyer, despite the conviction, the last word in this case has not yet been said.

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