Mousavi Concerned About Confiscated Documents

After almost a whole month of no information about the condition of dissident leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, two of their daughters were able to visit with them last Tuesday, 8 March. Mir Hossein Mousavi told his daughters during this meeting that on 14 February, the day their contact was cut off with the outside world, during a raid by security forces on the couple’s home, numerous papers and documents from his time as Prime Minister which he described to his daughter as “documents which should not be in anybody’s possession but his,” were taken. Along with these, a considerable number of papers, books, and CD’s belonging to Zahra Rahnavard’s professional life as an artist and faculty member at arts universities and Chancellor of Alzahra University, were taken by security forces. Mir Hossein Mousavi told his daughters that during the raid, their most personal items such as family photograph albums were inspected.

“We were reassured that our parents are more determined than ever before to the commitment they made to the people,” Mousavi’s two daughters wrote in a letter published on Kaleme Website about their visit with their parents.

Mir Hossein Mousavi’s daughters state in the letter that their meeting with their parents was held under tight monitoring by security forces, who prevented them from discussing political issues with their parents. The security forces further asked the visitors to keep silent about the meeting. They also stated that their parents’ house arrest is just like any other imprisonment where “prisons are in the hands of armed forces.”

“After weeks of absolutely no news, on Tuesday, 8 March 2011, during separate telephone calls, security authorities contacted our aunt and uncle, summoning them for providing information. A similar event happened for only one of us, the daughters [of Mousavi and Rahnavard]. During these security meetings, it was said that the possibility of meeting with our parents was only made possible for her. They also offered the same thing to our aunt and uncle, which they did not accept. This offer was both dubious and pleasant. Really, after all these painful rumors, what daughter would resist such an offer after the bitterness of separation from one’s parents, no matter how dubious the offer? They also insisted that flowers be bought and we we went to see our parents,” is stated in a part of the letter.

“After making us make promises and emphasizing that we were not to speak about political issues, we entered a home in Pastor [neighborhood], and after passing through the house’s courtyard which was filled with security forces and a van with black windows, we entered the only room in the house. We embraced our parents who, it was clear were unaware of this meeting, with indescribable excitement. Our father’s same kind and full of compassion face. The same peace created by mother’s presence….More abusive than the ten pairs of security forces’ eyes who were watching us through the glass door, was the presence of a security force who was sitting among us self-righteously and as if he were a member of our family, ending our discussions in the way he liked with his remarks.

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard’s children refer to the meeting as a big victory for the people of Iran. They have further criticized the illegal house arrest and the imposed limitations, demanding the removal of the illegal limitations for their parents.

International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran