By Ian Black, Middle East Editor

November 25, 2009

Source:

‘s revolutionary guards should be subject to sanctions to force Tehran to curb its nuclear ambitions and respect democracy, the country’s leading film-maker and unofficial spokesman for the opposition Green Movement has said.

“If foreign governments deal only with the atomic bomb and forget about democracy and human rights in Iran, they will help dictatorship,” Mohsen Makhmalbaf told the Guardian.

“If they want peace in the Middle East, they need a democratic government in Iran. Pressure from inside and pressure from outside can change things.”

Makhmalbaf is widely seen as representing , who claimed victory over in June’s bitterly disputed presidential election. His outspoken comments highlight the dilemma for the US and others: how to engage the Iranian regime over the nuclear issue without undermining the opposition, still reeling over the crisis that erupted when the incumbent hardliner confounded expectations by beating Mousavi in an allegedly rigged vote.

An Islamic activist under the shah, Makhmalbaf was in prison until shortly before the 1979 revolution. He left Iran in 2005 after Ahmadinejad was elected for his first term. His 2001 film Kandahar was voted one of the best 100 films of all time.

At a ceremony in London tonight he was awarded the 2009 Freedom to Create prize to promote global social justice. He announced he was dedicating it to Ayatollah Ali Montazeri, rival of , Iran’s supreme leader, and donated his £50,000 prize to help victims of the brutal post-election crackdown.

“People were killed, imprisoned, tortured and raped just for their votes,” Makhmalbaf said in his acceptance speech. “Each award I receive gives me an opportunity to echo their voices across the world, asking for democracy for Iran and peace for the world. It is vital that we continue to talk about freedom and democracy for the Iranian people.”

Makhmalbaf called for “smart” sanctions targeting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their extensive business interests – including a communications monopoly – that are often described as constituting a parallel economy.

“The revolutionary guards are terrorists. They are in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon. They tortured people in Iran. They rape people in prisons. If you explain to the Iranian people that you are sanctioning their enemies, they will support you.” He said it was important to avoid measures such as blocking petrol imports because ordinary people would be hurt.

Makhmalbaf said he did not believe it would be possible for the international community to reach agreement on the nuclear issue as the regime was determined to acquire a bomb.

“You cannot sign an agrement with fascists,” he said. “If someone hijacks a plane, do you make an agreement with the hijackers? If they accept a nuclear agrement they will lose support. They need enemies, especially Khamenei.” But he warned that any military attack, threatened by Israel if diplomacy failed, would be a setback for democracy.

Iran’s official line is that it wants nuclear power for civilian power generation and has no interest in building weapons. A UN resolution drafted by security council members calls on Tehran to be more open about its nuclear plans after the revelation that it had nearly completed a new uranium enrichment facility in secret.

Makhmalbaf, who lives in Paris, said 70% of Iranians supported the Green movement against only 10% for the regime. “The government can control demonstrations,” he said, “but it cannot manage the country’s problems.”

He predicted more opposition protests on public holidays after large-scale demonstrations on Qods day in September and this month’s anniversary of the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran.

Makhmalbaf’s praise for Montazeri – as “one of the bravest voices in Iran” – follows the cleric’s public apology for the embassy takeover and the long hostage crisis that followed. He has criticised Barack Obama for not responding.

In an oblique criticism of the US president’s approach to Iran, Makhmalbaf said: “Obama is like a teenager who has come up with a new idea to change the world. When George Bush was in the White House, we had the [reformist Mohammed] Khatemi as president. Now we have Ahmadinejad, they have Obama. The timing is not right.”

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