Iran opposition leader Karroubi adamant: son

AFP - Iran's ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi has not changed his views one iota while under house arrest, opposition website Sahamnews.net on Thursday reported the cleric's son Hossien as saying.

"He is in reasonable physical and mental condition, and during our meeting he talked about issues and insisted on sticking to his position," Hossien Karroubi said after he saw his father on Wednesday.

"I am standing firm in my stances and have not backed down one iota," he quoted his father as saying.

"Intelligence and security agents are familiar with my beliefs, and these past seven months they have not told me to write a public recantation or tried to talk to me into it," Hossien quoting his father as saying.

Karroubi has been under house arrest since February after calling for an anti-regime protest that month, resulting in an unknown number people being injured and many arrested.

His son was quoted by the website as saying that he had been able to see his father for the first time in seven months on Wednesday, when Shiite-majority Iran celebrated Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan.

Another of Karroubi's three sons, Ali, was allowed to see him in March to celebrate Nowrouz, or Iranian New Year.

The report of the meeting comes days after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pardoned 100 prisoners convicted of "crimes related to security," mostly in connection with anti-regime protests after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

Dozens of people were killed in the government crackdown on the post-election unrest.

The authorities have branded Karroubi and ex-premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, another opposition leader under house arrest, "leaders of the sedition" which sought to overthrow the Islamic regime after the 2009 election.

The two allege the presidential election was rigged.