Letter from Six Former Parliamentarians to Khamenei Demanding Trial or Lifting of House Arrest

Six former members of the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly have sent a letter to Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, requesting that he hold a public trial to address the charges against Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard.

Following a letter that Mehdi Karroubi wrote to Hassan Rouhani in Farvardin of this year, in which he asked him to demand a public trial from “despotic rule,” six former members of the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly have now made the same request to Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic.

According to Kaleme website, Fatemeh Haghighatjou, Ahmad Salamatian, Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoeini, Ali Mazroui, Hassan Yousefi Eshkouri, and Noureddine Pirmoazzen, in this letter, as those who have each served one or more times as members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and have taken an oath according to Article 67 of Iran’s Constitution to defend the constitution and the rights of the people, have deemed it necessary to make this request to Khamenei.

These individuals wrote in their letter to Khamenei: “You well remember as a member of the Assembly reviewing the final version of the constitution that in the session of the 14th of Aban 1358, this assembly approved Article 168 of the constitution, which stipulates that the trial of political and press crimes is public and is conducted in the presence of a jury in judicial courts, with 57 votes in favor, 2 votes against, and 2 abstentions.”

The authors of the letter, referring to this same article, have asked Khamenei to create the conditions for holding a trial for Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard.

Of course, they emphasized beforehand that Karroubi’s letter was addressed to the president, but according to these individuals, “in a process that has become customary in the Islamic Republic and according to the balance of powers within its governance, and based on evidence and repeated statements by security and judicial officials, the ability and consequently the responsibility to end the illegal house arrest of Mr. Karroubi” lies with Ali Khamenei.

Former members of the Iranian parliament concluded their letter by asking Khamenei that if he insists on continuing the house arrest of Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard, he should try these three individuals in accordance with Article 168 of the constitution, which they referenced in the text of the letter.

Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Zahra Rahnavard have been under house arrest since Bahman 1389 and following protests against the results of the 1388 presidential election.

Mehdi Karroubi wrote an open letter to Hassan Rouhani for the first time in Farvardin of this year, and with harsh and critical language indirectly addressed Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In his letter to Hassan Rouhani, Karroubi wrote: “I neither seek the lifting of my house arrest from you nor do I believe this is within your authority; however, I ask you, based on the responsibility that the constitution and the people have placed upon you, to demand from despotic rule that my public trial be held in accordance with Article 168 of the constitution, even with the composition desired by the holders of power, so that with God’s help and with the assistance of my lawyers, by reviewing the indictment and presenting my evidence regarding the fraud in the 1384 presidential election, the engineering of the 1388 presidential election, and what befell the children of this nation in legal and illegal detention facilities, I can inform the public.”