No news of green opposition couple for 5th week

GVF — Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard have been completely “cut off” from the outside world and have no access to newspapers, radio or stationery for writing, a website close to the reformist leader reported on Saturday.

According to Kaleme, the couple’s family have had “no information regarding their situation or any news about their well-being,” since their last meeting with their daughters five weeks ago. “Even the very few and short telephone calls, which didn’t mount to more than five, have been cut off.”

Mousavi and fellow Green Movement leader Mahdi Karroubi were placed under house arrest after calling for opposition protests on 14 February to show support and solidarity for the uprisings of the Arab world.

The most recent news blackout regarding the condition of the Green couple has led to rising concerns among the Mousavi family and Green Movement activists.

Some analysts believe that Mousavi’s firm stance towards judiciary officials present in the family reunion five weeks ago, as well as his much-talked about comments might have triggered their total isolation from the outside world.

During the encounter five weeks ago, Mousavi reportedly said that “under status quo, one can’t be hopeful about the upcoming [parliamentary] elections and taking part in them.” The veteran politician also stated that in his view, “the future is bright.”

“If you want to know about my situation in captivity, read Gabriel García Márquez's News of a Kidnapping,” Mousavi reportedly said to his daughters. These few seemingly innocent words spread rapidly among Green Movement supporters and were enough to start a wave of “News of Kidnapping” readers in the country. Not long after Mousavi’s brief meeting with his daughters, copies of Nobel-prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez’s 1996 work News of a Kidnapping became a scarce item in bookshops due to unprecedented demand for the book in Tehran. At least ten large bookshops in the capital told the Guardian “their stocks of the book had sold out. None of them would say why.”

According to Amnesty International, on or around 31 July 2011 Mahdi Karroubi was transferred to a small apartment controlled by the Ministry of Intelligence. In the letter published on Mahdi Karroubi’s website Sahamnews, Fatemeh Karroubi (wife) states that her husband requested to be moved to reduce restrictions placed on other residents of the complex where he lived, but the alternative accommodation his family had found was rejected by the Intelligence Ministry. She has also said that the behaviour and conduct of husband’s captives has been worse than that of the Shah’s notoriously ruthless SAVAK (National Intelligence and Security Organisation).

The human rights organisation launched an “Urgent Action” on 29 September calling on the Iranian regime to release Karroubi, Mousavi and Rahnavard “without delay as they are being arbitrarily deprived of their liberty”; and “to ensure in the meantime that they are granted immediate and regular access to their family, a lawyer of their choice and all necessary medical care”; “to remove unlawful restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and assembly.”

Since the start of their arbitrary detention, the 2009 presidential candidates have not been granted a fair trial. Their continued captivity and maltreatment is inconsistent not only with human rights provisions but also with Iran’s own constitution.