Limited Opening in House Arrest of Karoubi, Mousavi, and Rahnavard?

According to Mehdi Karoubi’s son, security officials have allowed his father, as well as Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, to meet with friends or relatives once a week. However, Mousavi’s representative says that no change has been made in their conditions.

Hossein Karoubi, son of Mehdi Karoubi, spoke on Monday, December 24 (January 14) in an interview with ILNA news agency about the details of new regulations for limited and controlled weekly meetings for his father as well as Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard.

Hossein Karoubi said: “About two months ago, security officials told Mr. Karoubi and Mousavi that, at your own discretion, we can take you out once a week, but the location must be coordinated.”

Mehdi Karoubi, who has been under house arrest along with Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard since 2010, began using this opportunity by visiting families of war casualties. He visited the Shahhasini family in Shemiran and the Panahi family in Karaj, as well as several other families.

It is reported that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have so far met with Mousavi’s two brothers and Rahnavard’s relatives.

Mehdi Karoubi’s son also stated: “Immediate family members, which includes daughters-in-law, grandchildren, and us, can visit them [Mehdi Karoubi] at any time they wish, but the house key is in the hands of security forces, and every time we go we have to ring the doorbell and then the door is locked behind us, and despite the family’s insistence, the key has not been given to us.”

The publication of this news prompted Mahmoud Mousavi, brother of Mir Hossein Mousavi, to react. He said that “no change has been made in the situation of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard”.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, two candidates who opposed the announced results of the 2009 presidential election, along with Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi’s wife, have been under house arrest without trial or court order since February 2010. In December 2012, the then commander of the police force, Ismail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, announced that this action was taken with the decision and responsibility of Ali Khamenei.

Failure to Lift House Arrest

Ismail Karami-Moghaddam, spokesperson of the Etemad-Melli Party, regarding the reasons for the failure to fully lift the house arrest of Karoubi, Mousavi, and Rahnavard and the publication of some reports about “reformists’ failure to lift the house arrest,” said: “Some hardliners tried to lift the house arrest but failed, and now they are blaming the reformists for their failure.”

The Etemad-Melli Party spokesperson described recent remarks by Mohammad Reza Bahonar, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, and his blaming of reformists for failing to lift the house arrest as contrary to fact. He said: “We had no sign of lifting the house arrest of the detained in 2017, and only in words, some officials claimed that the possibility of lifting the house arrest existed, which was mainly mentioned by reformists who were in government.”

Karami-Moghaddam referred to the efforts of some hardliners to lift the house arrest and said: “Although some people, perhaps like Mr. Bahonar himself, made sincere efforts to lift the house arrest, they did not succeed.”

The Etemad-Melli Party spokesperson said that lifting the house arrest is “as easy as drinking water” and would not create any security and political problems. He emphasized: “They say what guarantee is there. Is a guarantee required to criticize? If the house arrest is lifted, many of the costs imposed on the country would be eliminated. Even if four criticisms are made, with criticism, costs are imposed on the country.”

In response to those who attributed the failure to lift the house arrest to the publication of Mehdi Karoubi’s statement, Karami-Moghaddam said that Mousavi’s failure to publish a statement did not result in lifting his house arrest. He said: “I think the officials have been wrong so far, and if this house arrest continues from now on, the cost to the authorities will be heavier.”

Ending the house arrest of the “leaders of the Green Movement” has been a promise of Hassan Rouhani and reformists in recent elections.

In February 2017, Mehdi Karoubi sent an unprecedented and open letter, strongly attacking Iran’s leader, telling Ali Khamenei that he should accept responsibility for the past thirty years. He wrote that the fate of his “illegal and unregulated house arrest” would be determined by Azrael and with his death “or another’s.”

“Have the Courage for an Open Trial Instead of Rhetorical Chants”

Fatimah Karoubi, wife of Mehdi Karoubi, in a letter published on December 1, responded to the remarks of Mohseni Ejei, spokesman of the judiciary, regarding new accusations against Mehdi Karoubi about receiving financial assistance from Saudi Arabia for election expenses.

Mohseni Ejei had said a few days earlier in an interview that Mehdi Karoubi received sums from Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf countries in 2009.

Fatimah Karoubi wrote in her letter that Karoubi and his campaign headquarters “had no relations whatsoever with foreigners or countries in the region and this headquarters never directly or indirectly used their financial resources.”

Karoubi’s wife also emphasized in her letter: “Security and judicial officials, who after the 2009 events, plowed through all our private and political lives in several phases and took all existing documents and evidence with them during raids on our home and office, are more aware of this matter than anyone else.”

Fatimah Karoubi also called for an open trial of the detained in her letter and wrote: “Mr. Ejei in this conversation has at least described the illegal and arbitrary punishment of the authorities over the past eight years as punishment, and once again brought up the issue of execution. Testing the tried is an error.”

Karoubi’s wife expressed hope in this letter that “the authorities would have the courage for an open trial of him instead of rhetorical chants.”

Source: DW