Panahi, whose films have won awards at several European film festivals, was released "two days after going on a hunger strike", according to CHRI, while Iranian newspaper Shargh published a picture of Panahi hugging one of his support upon his release from Evin prison in Tehran.
"It's extraordinary, a relief, a total joy", reacted the French producer Michèle Halberstadt, who distributes her films.
"His next fight is to officially recognize the cancellation of his sentence. He's out, he's free, it's already great," she added for AFP.
Jafar Panahi, 62, was arrested in July even before the start of the wave of protest actions that have rocked the Iranian regime since September.
He was to serve a six-year prison sentence handed down in 2010 for "propaganda against the system".
In a statement released by his wife on Thursday, the director announced that he had gone on hunger strike on February 1 to protest his conditions of detention.
"I will remain in this state until, perhaps, my lifeless body is released from prison," he warned.
The Cannes Film Festival and two collectives of French filmmakers had called for his release.
Jafar Panahi won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for his film "Le Cercle".
In 2015, he was awarded a Golden Bear in Berlin for "Taxi Tehran" and, in 2018, he won the best screenplay award for "Three Faces" at the Cannes Film Festival.
Jafar Panahi's latest film, "No Bear", which, like most of his recent works, puts him directly on stage, was screened in 2022 at the Venice Film Festival when he was already imprisoned.
He had won the special jury prize.
© 2023 AFP