Iran's opposition leaders Behind bars at last

FOR Iran's best-known dissidents, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the net has tightened with tortuous precision. First came calls that they be arrested for their prominent role in the country's two-year-old pro-democracy movement, followed by physical attacks, media vilification, and, last month, the spectacle of hardline parliamentarians baying for their execution. By then, the pair had been prevented from leaving their homes, which had been daubed with abusive graffiti and, in Mr Mousavi's case, sealed with a metal door. Now, according to their families, both have been quietly taken to jail.

The government refuses to confirm the incarcerations that demonstrators on March 2nd sought to denounce. Thousands took to the streets of Tehran and other towns under the cover of a festive shopping spree the Persian new year falls on March 21st only to demand freedom for Messrs Mousavi and Karroubi, and, in some cases, grisly retribution for the author of their misfortunes, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Motorists honked their support and the security forces responded as usual with tear-gas, baton-charges and arrests.

These echoed scenes of the protests that followed the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009 and which restarted last month in emulation of the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. There was never any doubting Mr Khamenei's hankering for revenge over the two men, both former loyalists who have turned against the regime, and his countervailing fear that to do so might spark a popular explosion. But the struggle for Iran's future is turning out to be a drawn-out affair. It may be some time before the true impact of this latest escalation is felt.

The truth is that neither of the detained pair was ever iconic enough for his arrest either to signal the end of the movement or to prompt mass anger. Assuming, as seems likely, that the authorities are deliberately blurring the facts, and the pair are to be kept behind bars, a fresh struggle will now begin, out of view.

Both men will need all their obstinacy, of which they have proven reserves, to resist interrogators attempts to force them to make a recantation showing their treasonous intent and allegiance to Western powers. If they resist, news of their courage will seep out and their hold over the public will grow. If they crack, the movement may crack too.

Source: THE ECONOMIST