Former Presidential Candidates Held for Four Years without Charges
\nDecember 2, 2014\u2014The head of the Iranian Judiciary should immediately end the nearly four-year house arrest of former presidential candidates Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, and leading dissident Zahra Rahnavard, and grant them a fair trial, the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said today.<\/p>\n
The Campaign renews its call for these leading political figures to be released from extrajudicial house arrest in light of Mehdi Karroubi\u2019s newly released demand calling on parliamentary member Ali Motahari to seek justice for Karroubi in this matter. Motahari, a conservative MP, is one of the few Iranian officials who have openly criticized the ongoing house arrest of these three individuals, most recently in a speech in the city of Mashad on November 24.
\nAn open letter signed by the Karroubi family and published on November 29, 2014, on the Karroubi-affiliated Saham News website states that during their last meeting with Mehdi Karroubi, he \u201cexplicitly and clearly criticized the lack of responsibility by top officials in their clear violation of the Iranian constitution and other laws\u201d and said that he wishes to respond to the \u201cunilateral accusations that \u2018sell-outs\u2019 of religion\u201d have levied against him. To this end, the letter says that Karroubi entrusts Motahari to pursue Karroubi\u2019s right to a public trial, on his behalf, in accordance with Article 168 of the Iranian constitution.
\n\u201cFour years of house arrest without charges is a blatant violation of international law,\u201d said Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. \u201cWhile world powers are engaged in negotiations with Iran they should simultaneously state clearly and forcefully that any full normalization of relations with Iran is contingent upon addressing such egregious rights violations as the house arrest of these figures.\u201d
\n\u201cThe reality is that this ongoing extrajudicial house arrest is motivated by fear: the fear that prosecuting these political figures, who have first-hand knowledge of the widespread violations of the rights of the Iranian citizenry following the disputed 2009 presidential election, could further expose and remind the Iranian people of those abuses and seriously challenge the Iranian authorities\u2019 narrative of events,\u201d Ghaemi added.
\nThe letter published by the Karroubi family further notes that Motahari has challenged \u201cthe deadly silence inside the regime regarding this illegal and anti-Sharia act with courage and by assuming strong and solid positions\u2026and in addition to pursuing and looking for the root causes of the events of 2009, he has spoken of the illegal imposition of this punishment against the country\u2019s existing laws.\u201d
\nIran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has previously stated that, \u201cthe crime [of these three individuals] is heavy and if they are prosecuted, their sentence would be heavy, and we are being gentle to them right now.\u201d
\nIn his speech in Mashad, Motahari said, \u201cEven the Prophet of Islam cannot say that someone\u2019s sentence is heavy\u2014to issue a ruling without a trial and without defense and without hearing their defense…. House arrest without judicial orders is cruel and unfair. If due process is enforced, we will oblige, but it is not possible to say \u2018put this individual under house arrest, and imprison that individual, or behead another individual.\u2019\u201d
\nIranian authorities initially placed Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and their wives Zahra Rahnavard and Fatemeh Karroubi under house arrest on February 14, 2011, after they publicly called for demonstrations in support of the popular uprisings in the Arab world at the time. While Fatemeh Karroubi was eventually released, the other three have remained under house arrest without charges or prosecution.
\nThe Iranian Judiciary should immediately end its routine practice of detaining individuals without charge. \u201cMany individuals are held in this legal purgatory for continuously extended periods in Iran, but four years of effective imprisonment without charge is long even by Tehran\u2019s standards,\u201d said Ghaemi.<\/p>\n
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\nFor the latest human rights developments in Iran visit the Campaign\u2019s website
\nFor interviews, contact:
\nHadi Ghaemi at +1-917-669-5996, hadighaemi@iranhumanrights.org
\nGissou Nia at +1-646-350-9617, gissou.nia@iranhumanrights.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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