Lebanon prepares for Ahmadinejad

Iranian security patrols southern region, film festival censors Opposition film in honor of official visit

Ali Waked, AFP|Published: 10.10.10 , 08:56

Iranian security officers are patrolling southern Lebanon in efforts to prevent any problems that may arise as the result of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit this week, the London-based al-Hayat reported Sunday.

A security source told the paper that Lebanese forces will secure the visit, however. The army is set to deploy throughout his route and at sites Ahmadinejad plans to tour. UNIFIL, the UN force in southern Lebanon, is not involved, the source said.

Dome of Rock replica created for Iranian leader (Photo: Reuters)

In addition, Lebanese censors have asked a film festival not to screen a film on Iranian opposition protests during the visit, the festival's director said on Saturday.

"The film 'Green Days' has not been banned, but the censorship authorities have asked us to postpone the two screenings because of the Iranian president's visit," the Beirut International Film Festival's Colette Naufal told AFP.

Ahmadinejad is scheduled to begina a two-day visit to Lebanon on Wednesday, the first day director Hana Makhamalbaf's documentary was to have been shown at the festival.

Her film is about protests that followed Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June 2009, and features raw footage of the violence that erupted when Iranian forces cracked down hard on the demonstrators.

Makhamalbaf, 22, is the daughter of Mohsen Makhamalbaf, who is close to leading Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi whose supporters wore green as a sign of protest against what they said was a rigged election.

"Green Days" also featured at the 2009 Venice film festival, and many directors, writers and artists supported Mousavi during last year's presidential election.

Prominent Iranian director Jafar Panahi spent more than three months in prison this year for trying to make a film about the 2009 opposition protests.