Mehdi Karoubi, a dissident theologian, former parliamentary speaker and owner of the closed newspaper Etemad Melli, Mir Hossein Mousavi, the owner of the closed newspaper Kalameh Sabaz, and Mousavi’s wife, the writer Zahra Rahnavard, are spending their 1,100th day in detention today. They were placed under house arrest in February 2011.
“The arbitrary detention of Karoubi, Mousavi and Rahnavard has no legal basis under either Iranian or international law,†Reporters Without Borders said. “By promoting the reign of the arbitrary and impunity, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is responsible for their detention, which is a flagrant violation of article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 9 and 11 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights*, and articles 32 and 39 of Iran’s own constitution**.
“President Hassan Rouhani is partly to blame. He has not kept his promises to release all prisoners of opinion. As guarantor of the constitution’s application, he must put an end to this unacceptable situation.â€
Leaders of the wave of protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection in June 2009, Karoubi, Mousavi and Rahnavard were arrested on February 24, 2011 after a call for solidarity with the Arab Spring protests. They have been deprived of all their rights for nearly three years.
Karoubi’s son, Taghi Karoubi, told the Kalameh news website on February 1 that his father was again under house arrest after being held at an unknown location for a short period. “Intelligence ministry officials have moved into the first floor and are controlling all movements inside the house,†he said. “They have also cut off all means of communication – phone, Internet and so on.â€
Karoubi was removed to an unknown place of detention in January after undergoing two back operations – a laminectomy and discectomy – at Tehran’s Arad Hospital. Aged 77, he has been hospitalized a total of five times since mid-2013 for various ailments including a heart condition, according to his wife, Fatemeh Karoubi. He underwent an angioplasty on July 31, 2013.
Mousavi, 72, and Rahnavard have also been hospitalized several times in Tehran – in August 2012, September 2013 and most recently October 2013 – for heart problems. Each time they were closely watched by intelligence ministry officials and Revolutionary Guards and were then returned to house arrest.
One of the world’s most repressive countries as regards media freedom, Iran is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
