No Participation in Upcoming Elections

Iran’s leading opposition figure under house arrest since February this year, Mir-Hossein Mousavi was quoted saying that, “in view of the continuation of current conditions [in Iran], there is no hope for participating in the upcoming Majlis elections,” to be held in March 2012.

 

The former prime-minister made these remarks as he and his wife were accompanied by security agents to visit their 3 daughters, from their 7-month house arrest. This was the first such visit, which took place in the house of one of their daughters.

 

Whereas during the last meeting between Mousavi/Rahnavard and their daughter security agents remained present during the whole exchange, the visit and meeting this week also included a judiciary official, which brought forth Mousavi’s strong objection questioning who had allowed him to enter his daughter’s house, and why.

 

Also during this meeting, which Kalameh website that is associated with Mousavi called “unexpected and unprecedented,” Mousavi appeared optimistic about the future of Iran and said, “The future is clear,” implying victory for their views, perseverance and rejection of the 2009 presidential elections and calls for respect for law, the constitution and people’s basic rights.

 

According to Kalameh, Mousavi described some of the constraints he and his wife were currently facing and stressed that that was the price they were paying for standing up for their principles and rights.

 

Mousavi and Rahnavard also spoke of their isolation and absence of access to newspapers, radio and even writing tools. In addition, some art pieces and paintings had been confiscated from their house and taken to undisclosed locations by agents who first arrived in there in February to place them under house arrest. Mousavi and Rahnavard declared this act to have been carried out with the goal of “clearing-up their minds”, challenging that this would happen and adding that they would never give up their drive and views.

 

During this visit, Mousavi also expressed his surprise at the reports of some government news sites about his illness and strongly denied that he and his wife were ill. Some government sites had earlier reported that Mousavi had been seriously ill and had been taken to hospital.

 

Kalameh website also reported that after this recent visit and meeting with his daughters, and Mousavi and Rahnavard’s objections to the actions of judiciary authorities who were forcefully present at the meeting, the pressure on both of them has again been increased and their telephone access to their children has been taken away.

 

While Mousavi and Rahnavard have been under house arrest for 7 months now, no official of the Islamic republic has formally accepted responsibility for placing them under house arrest or even confirms this. Iran’s chief prosecutor Mohseni Ejei recently again denied that the leaders of the Green Movement were under house arrest. “Arrest is not the proper definition. They are not under arrest for the law of civil procedure to be implemented. It is in the interest of some individuals to create restrictions for them,” Ejei told reporters recently, implying that the restrictions have not been placed by the judiciary.

 

Last week, Mehdi Karoubi too, also placed under house arrest in February, met with his eldest son, Hossein Karoubi and his family. That visit too had not been announced in advance. During that visit, Karoubi’s wife Fatemeh was also present. Family members quoted Karoubi to have said during the meeting, “I stand steadfast by my beliefs and views and will not retreat an iota from them.” He added, “government’s intelligence officials had learned well of my spirit and temperament during the past seven months, who also know of my positions and understand how I feel. They do not allow themselves to try to counsel or educate me, let alone ask me to write a pardon letter.”

 

Some government news sites had reported earlier that Karoubi had signed a pardon petition, which was clearly denied by the family after the visit.

 

Mousavi’s pessimism about the upcoming legislative elections comes at a time when the issue of whether the opposition should participate in them or not was under discussion and debate. Some have argued the futility and irrelevance of participating in the elections because of the rejection of the tenth presidential election in June 2009, which brought forth a national crisis and wide spread protests and violence on behalf of the regime. There have also been reports that some reformers were considering participating in the March 2012 elections.

 

Seyed Mohammad Khatami, former 2-time reformist president, a few months ago announced specific conditions for such participation. His conditions included the release of all political prisoners, free elections and the implementation of the provisions of the constitution. Khatami had also said that if the conditions were not met, then they would definitely not participate in the voting, adding how they could ignore the lost rights of people.

 

Khatami’s conditions for return to parliamentary elections were supported by a section of the reformists, including a senior member of the Jebhe Mosharekat and the Sazemane Mujahidin Engelab Eslami (Participation Front, and Islamic Revolution Mujahidin Organization, respectively). Mostafa Tajzadeh, who has been in prison since his protest of the rigged 2009 presidential elections, announced his support for Khatami’s conditions from prison. Another leadership member of the Participation Front Ali Shakoorirad had also told Arman newspaper that they would not participate, unless Khatami’s conditions were met.

 

Recently a list appeared on government websites claiming to belong to reformist candidates for the March parliamentary elections, which was denied by reformers. Faraj Kamijani, the head of the reformists’ coordinating council told ILNA that reformers continued to wait for the implementation of conditions set by Khatami, adding that they had not made a decision about participation or not.