A court in Tehran has sentenced a student of painting at the University of Tehran to 35 lashes on the charges of 'insulting' a filmmaker.

Mahyar Bahram Asl, a graduate student, may have to receive the lashes if he is convicted for the same or any other reason within the next three years.

Bahram Asl criticized Mrs. Tahmineh Milani's paintings when she displayed her works at an art gallery in Tehran in the summer of 2018 and continued the debate with Milani, who is an established filmmaker and a well-known architect, live on Instagram.

Milani was accused by painters and art students on Instagram of plagiarism, and in one case, she acknowledged that one of her paintings was a copy of a work by Russian painter Jenny Millhoff and offered an apology.

Another painting by Milani, was said by painters in Tehran to be copied from another work by a young Iranian artist Samaneh Alijani.

Following the verdict, some social media users renewed their criticism of Milani and her paintings.