TV AND WEB RESTRICTIONS~** PART MUST CREDIT CELLULOID, NO LIBRARY OR WIRELESS USE **~<br/> <br />Renowned Iranian film maker and activist Jafar Panahi - one of this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought winners.<br/> <br />On Friday, the European Union announced that Panahi and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh had won for their tireless efforts to protect basic human rights in Iran.<br/> <br />Banned from making films, Panahi is currently serving a six-year sentence in his homeland for works that reveal the dark underbelly of Iran's religious regime and oppressed population.<br/> <br />His latest film was snuck out of the country on a USB key hidden in a cake to be show at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.<br/> <br />His compatriot, also imprisoned by Iranian authorities, was recognized for representing opposition activists in court.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (German) EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT MARTIN SCHULZ, SAYING:<br/> <br />"Both Ms Sotoudeh and Mr Panahi represent everything that the European Union stands for. And we say to them, loud and clear, 'you are not alone'. I hope they will be able to come to Strasbourg in person in December to receive their award. I call on the Iranian authorities to do everything to make this possible."<br/> <br />The prize is set to be awarded at a ceremony in December is and is named for Soviet-era physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov.
