Mousavi daughters say parents deprived of most basic rights

Iran’s former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, has met with the family of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, the leaders of Iran’s opposition Green Movement currently in captivity.

According to opposition website Kaleme, on Saturday 16th July, Khatami met with Mousavi’s family including his daughters as well as Rahnavard’s ailing parents.

During the visit, Mousavi’s daughters provided Khatami with the latest developments regarding their parents’ condition and the pressures exerted on the family by the authorities. They also reiterated recent concerns voiced by Rahnavard’s mother about the couple’s state of well-being.

Ehteramossadat Safavi had stated that Mousavi and his spouse were neither under house arrest nor in prison, but rather “taken as hostages.” “Compared to previous visits, this most recent time, I noticed my daughter and son-in-law had suddenly become severely pale and thin. The sudden change in their appearance, their paler skin and weight loss is extremely worrisome,” she had warned in an interview with Kaleme.

In their meeting with the former president, Mousavi’s daughters highlighted the continued threats and unfitting behaviour on the part of Iran’s security forces. They also said that they were rarely allowed to see their parents and that even then, their conversations were severely restricted and closely controlled by cameras and security agents present inside the green couple’s house.

The daughters expressed their discontent over the fact that their parents were being deprived of some of the most limited and basic rights enjoyed by most political prisoners in the country such as regular phone calls leading to increased concerns about their physical health.

Also, Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand, a senior aide to Green Movement leader Mir Hosseib Mousavi, recently expressed his concerns over the well-being of the opposition leader and his wife Zahra Rahnavard, warning that Iran’s “officials must understand they cannot act in any way they wish … We call for medical attention (for Mr Mousavi and Ms Rahnavard) that is specific and according to their will.”

Opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi were placed under house arrest along with their wives after calling for protests on 14 February in solidarity with the uprisings of the Arab world.

Since their arrest more than 155 days ago, the Iranian regime has not brought any official charges against the popular opposition figures, violating the men’s human rights as well as the regime’s own laws.

A former foreign minister of the Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed, has been named United Nations human rights investigator on Iran, the first in nearly a decade. The UN Human Rights Council established the independent post of special rapporteur on human rights in Iran on March 24.

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