A film by an Iranian director about capital punishment has won the top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media.

Mohammad Rasoulof was banned from directing in 2017. He produced There Is No Evil, his sixth film, in secret.

He is unable to travel outside Iran owing to charges relating to his earlier films.

Mr Rasoulof's daughter Baran, who also stars in the film, received the Golden Bear on his behalf.

Jury president Jeremy Irons said that the film, which tells four stories about the death penalty, showed "the web an authoritarian regime weaves among ordinary people, drawing them towards inhumanity".

The second-place award at the festival went to Never Rarely Sometimes Always, a film about abortion in the US by director Eliza Hittman.