(July 31, 2013) Foreign dignitaries invited to attend the inauguration of Iran\u2019s president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, should use the occasion to demand a visit to opposition leaders under house arrest, and publicly call for their immediate release, the Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.<\/p>\n
According to the Iranian media, Javier Solana, former EU foreign policy chief, and Jan Eliasson, the deputy general-secretary of the United Nations, are among the foreign dignitaries who will attend Rouhani\u2019s inauguration in Tehran on August 4.
\nSince February 14, 2011, former presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, as well as Mousavi\u2019s wife, Zahra Rahnavard, have been under house arrest, under the direct orders of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader, Seyed Ali Khamenei. There are serious concerns for their health as both Mousavi and Karroubi have recently been hospitalized.
\n\u201cJust as Catherine Ashton required a meeting with Mohamed Morsi during her recent visit to Cairo, Solana and Eliasson should insist upon a meeting with Mousavi, Rahnavard, and Karroubi so that they can report on their condition to the outside world,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, the Campaign\u2019s executive director.
\n\u201cThroughout the more than two-and-a-half years of their illegal house arrest, there has been no credible news of their condition. It is imperative for Solana and Eliasson to meet with them during their visit,\u201d Ghaemi added.
\nDuring his election campaign, Rouhani repeatedly promised to seek the release of all prisoners of conscience as well as the release of opposition figures under house arrest.
\nAccording to Karroubi\u2019s son, 76-year-old Mehdi Karroubi was hospitalized this week due to heart problems, arthritis, and urinary complications. He was released on July 31. Mousavi, who is 72 years old, also underwent treatment for heart problems and was hospitalized on July 2, 2013.
\nMousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard have never been charged by Iran\u2019s Judiciary.
\nDomestic pressure for releasing the former presidential candidates has been steadily building. Last week, Ali Motahari, a member of the Iranian Parliament, called for the lifting of Mousavi and Karroubi\u2019s house arrest and the release of all prisoners of conscience during a speech in the Parliament.
\nIn November 2011, Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of the High Council for Human Rights, said that the detainees had engaged in \u201cillegal activities\u201d and incited violence. He also said that no one could be placed under house arrest in Iran \u201cwithout trial and without a court order,\u201d and that the public would soon be informed of the charges against the detainees. More than a year later, during which no charges have been brought, Iran\u2019s police chief, Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghaddam said on December 25, 2012, that the country\u2019s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had approved the detention of the opposition figures in advance of their house arrest.
\n\u201cThis is an important opportunity for world leaders who meet with Iran\u2019s new president to show that the international community cares about unlawful actions against political dissidents and is willing to push for change,\u201d said Ghaemi. \u201cWe believe domestic and international pressure will make is easier for Rouhani to bring much needed improvements in the current human rights situation in Iran, as he promised during his presidential campaign.\u201d
\nListen to the Campaign\u2019s Iran Rights Podcast\u2028\u2028For the latest human rights developments in Iran visit the Campaign\u2019s website
\nFor interviews, contact Hadi Ghaemi at +1-917-669-5996<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(July 31, 2013) Foreign dignitaries invited to attend the inauguration of Iran\u2019s president-elect, Hassan Rouhani, should use the occasion to demand a visit to opposition leaders under house arrest, and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=297"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1543,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297\/revisions\/1543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iransos.com\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}