Spokesman: Mousavi not allowed to communicate

Iran's opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi is not under arrest, but cannot talk with journalists, take phone calls or stand at a microphone at his rallies, his spokesman said Friday from Paris.

Faced with the limitations at rallies, Mousavi has had to speak "into a megaphone that can maybe be heard by 100 people, if everyone is quiet," Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf (moh-SEN makh-mal-BAF) told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

Authorities are closely watching Mousavi because arresting him would spark further outrage among his supporters, he said, speaking in Farsi. Makhmalbaf said he is in contact with people close to Mousavi in the capital Tehran, but it's become increasingly difficult to reach them.

Government crackdowns have made communications with Tehran difficult - via Internet, telephone or satellite television - in the week since the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad resulted in mass protests by supporters of Mousavi and other opposition figures.

"They call me, but only when they can get through," which is increasingly less and less, Makhmalbaf said. He said he had not heard from the Mousavi camp since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Friday prayer that denounced the protests.

Makhmalbaf questioned Khamenei's power, saying that he is "a melting bit of snow," losing touch with the people and trying to speak through his "broken microphone," Ahmadinejad.

"People like Khamenei came to power with the mandate of a revolution conducted by Iran's people, a people who fought because they liked their leader," Makhmalbaf said. "Now, the people don't like the (Islamic) revolution, nor its current leaders."

Makhmalbaf said that in both revolution and reform, the Iranian people weren't able to attain their goals. In turn, Iranians "boycotted" and "befriended" the ballot box, referring to boycotts in the 2005 election that brought Ahmadinejad to power and their record turnout in the latest election.

"This people have begun to see that from now until forever, their destiny is being contained to one path, and they can't be satisfied with that, so they are speaking out," he said.

Makhmalbaf said he and Marjane Satrapi, the author of comic book and Oscar-nominated film "Persepolis," have called on the European parliament to refuse to acknowledge Ahmadinejad's presidency until the people in Iran decide. He asked Iranian expatriates to ask their governments to do the same.

Twice nominated for the Palm D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999 and 2001, Makhmalbaf's works include "Kandahar," "Blackboards" and "Gabbeh."

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Associated Press writer Jenny Barchfield in Paris a contributed to this report.