The European Union has added its voice to the international chorus denouncing the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on Iranian journalists.

Catherine Ashton, the head of EU foreign policy, announced in a statement that she is concerned about “the growing harassment and persecution of journalists and internet bloggers in Iran” and she called for their immediate release.

Some of the journalists detained in recent weeks are: Sahameddin Bourghani, Parastoo Dokouhaki, Hassan Fathi, Farshad Ghorbanpour, Ehsan Houshmand, Fatemeh Kheradmand, Saeed Madani, Shahram Manouchehri, Marzieh Rasouli, Arash Sadeghi and Mohammad Soleimaninia. The charges against these media professionals have not yet been formally announced.

The persecution of journalists in Iran was also denounced by the United States and Human Rights Watch.

According to Human Rights Watch, at least 10 journalists and netizens were arrested in Iran in the past month. The rights groups said that it has been informed that scores of media professionals all across Iran have been summoned by the judiciary recently.

Human Rights Watch reports that more than 30 journalists and 24 netizens are currently behind bars in Iran.

Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate, is throwing her support behind the 39 Iranian political prisoners calling for an election boycott and the release of Iran’s opposition leaders from house arrest.

In a statement, Ebadi commends the daring of the 39 prisoners and, in response to their call for support, writes: “I urge all freedom seekers all over the world to make all efforts to secure the release of all political prisoners in Iran, specifically Zahra Rahnavard, MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.”

She has also called upon all Iranians to boycott the elections. “I call on dear compatriots to boycott the sham elections for the 12th Islamic Parliament in March in order to once more announce to all the world that the Islamic Republic regime lacks legitimacy.”

Ebadi’s statement comes after 39 Iranian political prisoners issued a statement calling on all Iranians to boycott the March elections and persist in their demand for the release of Rahnavard, Mousavi and Karroubi, the Iranian opposition leaders who have been under house arrest since last February.

Mousavi and Karroubi challenged the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the 2009 elections and supported mass demonstrations protesting the alleged vote fraud. They were finally put under house arrest last February after they issued one last call to rally demonstrators in support of the uprisings in Arab countries last winter.

“Sometimes we see those who run these festivals grant precious awards to films whose main theme is centered on the poverty and hardships of a country’s people.

“This should not lead our artists to ignore the glaring positive points and features of our nation and instead illustrate the kind of things welcomed by such festivals’ organizers.”

The film recounts the story of a couple estranged because of differences over whether to leave Iran, who become embroiled in a nasty dispute with a domestic worker. The tale builds smartly to become an engrossing look at the societal pressures ensnaring all the protagonists as they navigate a minefield of lies.

The emotional story of the marriage break-up won over audiences with its natural dialogue and dramatic treatment of themes of loyalty, class and family, scoring 100 percent from critics on U.S. website Rotten Tomatoes and 94 percent from viewers.

Iran’s government initially slapped a ban on the movie as it was being made because Farhadi voiced support for fellow filmmakers labeled by authorities as “anti-regime.”

The added exposure from U.S. awards juries comes as relations between the United States and Iran are severely strained, with Iran saying it could close a major oil shipping lane if new sanctions block its crude exports ̶ something that would likely lead to a military stand-off.

“I just prefer to say something about my people. I think they are a truly peace-loving people,” Farhadi said in an acceptance speech that pointedly lacked any overtly political message.

Avoiding the faux pas of Iran’s best known film maker Abbas Kiarostami who was kissed by Catherine Deneuve when accepting the 1997 Palme d’Or at Cannes, Farhadi did not even shake hands with Madonna, conforming with Iranian law that bans contact between unmarried men and women.

Pride and prejudice

Javad Shamaghdari, Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran, congratulated Farhadi for the win, saying his movie had overcome anti-Iranian prejudice. “Wise judgment has put his movie on the podium of the chosen ones,” he said in a statement carried by the ILNA news agency.

The movie’s growing international profile is likely to renew concerns for film makers in Iran where scripts have to be submitted to Shamaghdari’s ministry for approval and several high-profile directors have been arrested, jailed or banned.

A Separation is seen to be a frontrunner for the best foreign-language Oscar at the U.S. Academy Awards on February 26, with critics raving about its humanity and its sharp portrayal of the Iran that exists beyond the grim news headlines.

The attention it is earning, though, is also bringing into focus the trials of the overall Iranian film industry, which has become increasingly restricted in the past three years, since the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Authorities in Iran this month dissolved the country’s main film industry guild, the House of Cinema, despite an outcry from several renowned Iranian directors.

The decision came after the government felt the guild was politicizing certain events, such as allowing filmmakers to express critical views of the regime at its annual festival. The official reason given was that the House of Cinema had changed its founding statutes without consulting authorities.

Farhadi has voiced support for his colleagues in the guild, who are trying to have the dissolution reversed.

The row has added to other difficulties Iran’s cinema industry is encountering.

One of Iran’s most famous filmmakers, Jafar Panahi, has been sentenced to jail and given a 20-year ban on making movies for a 2009 documentary he tried to film on the widespread unrest following Ahmadinejad’s re-election.

Several documentary makers accused of working with the BBC, were also arrested late last year, then released.

Iranians reacted worldwide have reacted with pride to A Separation’s win of major the Golden Globe ̶ a triumph on the international stage that, for a moment, eclipsed geopolitical tensions.

Its victory lit up Iranians’ messages on online social networks.

Among the thousands of messages posted online by Iranians was one that said: “I am so proud of you, it was a proud moment for all Iranians. With this event we have really upset those who closed the House of Cinema.”

A YouTube posting of the award presentation carried the message: “Too Bad this vid can’t make it all the way over there,” a reference to Iran’s strict Internet censorship which clocks access to most western news sites.

Iranians can access banned sites like YouTube and Facebook by using VPN (virtual private network) software, but even that is something that may be put at risk by government plans to create its own version of the Internet in coming weeks or months that some people fear could further isolate the country.

Few Iranian media carried reports on the win on Monday, mainly because the Golden Globes took place well after newspaper deadlines.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Reza Taqipour told Mehr news agency that Iran would not be disconnecting itself from the Web. “This National Information Network will under no circumstances be a replacement for the Internet,” he said.

Islamic Republic officials have approved the publication of a book entitled “The 5+1 Group”, which describes moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran’s Expediency Council, as the “main supporter” of the mass protests that followed the 2009 presidential elections.

The Shargh newspaper wrote in its Sunday issue: “This book presents MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Yousef Sanei, Mohammad Mousavi Khoveiniha and Mohammad Khatami as the leaders of the 2009 sedition, and identifies Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as the behind-the-scenes figure of the sedition.”

Iranian authorities refer to the protests that were triggered by allegations of fraud in the 2009 presidential elections as “sedition”, and the senior figures of the establishment that supported the protests are referred to as the “leaders of the sedition.”

The Ministry of Culture approved the publication of this book at a time when the pressures against Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani have reached a new high.

The Iranian Student News Agency published a report last week indicating that Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, may be thinking of appointing a new chairman for the sixth session of the Expediency Council.

Hashemi Rafsanjani’s critics say he is “unable to identify what is expedient for himself and his family, let alone the expediency of the country.” Hashemi Rafsanjani’s daughter and son have also faced prosecution in recent years for their involvement in the 2009 protests.

The Expediency Council was established in 1990 to resolve differences between the Guardian Council and Parliament. For the first two years, the council was chaired by Ayatollah Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader, but Ayatollah Rafsanjani has held the chairmanship since then.

The current session of the Expediency Council will end this February, and Ayatollah Khamenei is set to appoint the members of the sixth session.

Analysts say the recent blocking of Hashemi Rafsanjani’s website and the six-month prison sentence and five-year ban from political and media activities given to his daughter, Faezeh Hashemi, are signs that Rafsanjani’s scope of power in the establishment is shrinking.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani was also removed as the head of the Assembly of Experts after the disputed elections of 2009.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani was heavily criticized by Ayatollah Khamenei for demanding a vote recount during his Friday mass in Tehran in June of 2009, and for refusing to condemn the protests led by MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who both challenged Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election victory.