Where are Mousavi and Karoubi?

Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s home is cordoned off by security forces and all communication channels between the former war-time Prime Minister and the outside world have been cut.  At the same time, plain-clothes agents continued to gather in front of the home of Mehdi Karoubi, another leader of the Green Movement, who called for the execution of Karoubi and other leaders of the Green Movement.  Conflicting reports continue to come about the whereabouts of Mousavi and Karoubi, and the dismissal of their personal security details.

According to a Rooz reporter from Tehran, after Mousavi called Monday’s demonstrations that were held across Iran in solidarity for the people of Egypt and Tunisia, “Spectacular popular resistance,” security forces completely cordoned off his home as all communications between him, his wife Zahra Rahnavard and their close relatives were also cut.

Mr. Mousavi’s relatives who were contacted said they had absolutely no information about his condition or that of his wife, while their children also said they could not contact their parents.

This situation comes after some Majlis representatives on Monday called for the execution of Mousavi and Karoubi, calling them the “leaders of the sedition.” Sedition is the term supporters of the Iranian regime use for protestors who have rejected the official outcome of the 2009 presidential elections that returned incumbent Ahmadinejad to the presidency.

Other reports confirm the presence of plain-clothes agents and Basij Militia across Karoubi’s house. Saham News website, the news outlet of Karoubi’s Etemad Melli party wrote of “gangs” gathering in front of Karoubi’s home. “As of 9pm a group of thugs gathered in front of Mehdi Karoubi’s house and engaged in disturbing the peace of the neighborhood. Around 12 o’clock another group join the first one and began chanting slogans in support of Iran’s supreme leader and insulting Karoubi, Mousavi, Khatami and Rafsanjani, and even family members of ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic regime.”

According to various reports, the protestors chanted offensive slogans against Hashemi Rafsanjani, and against seyed Hassan Khomeini, seyed Yaser and seyed Ali, the latter close relatives of ayatollah Khomeini.

Following the massive demonstrations that began on Monday, Karoubi also issued a statement condemning the violence and warned the authorities of the Islamic republic “to take out the cotton from their ears and listen to the calls of the people.”

While the whereabouts of the leaders of the Green Movement are unknown, the home of Hossein Karoubi, the son of Mehdi Karoubi, was once again raided by agents from the ministry of intelligence. Hossein Karoubi’s website wrote that 20 agents were involved in the raid. According to this report, even though there was nobody in the house, the agents broke the house door to enter the building. There are other reports that confirm that security agents have remained in Karoubi’s home. Hossein Karoubi was summoned to the Evin Prison three weeks where he was interrogated for hours.

Fatemeh Karoubi: These Childish Acts Will not Change my Husband’s Choice

As the conflict between the public and authorities intensifies, Mehdi Karoubi’s wife wrote a letter to the head of Iran’s parliament, the Majlis in which she writes, “I have now accepted that we have no right to live,” meaning the authorities have taken away their rights.

In her letter, Mrs. Karoubi referenced her earlier letter she had sent to the leader of the Islamic regime, in which she asked him what did the differences between him and her husband have to do with their right to life. In her latest letter she wrote, “Today I have accepted that in a regime for which we spent most of our lives fighting for and creating, there no longer exists a right for us to exist.”

She then describes the condition they are in. “Since Thursday, our home is completely surrounded by security forces so that even my children are prevented from coming to see us. All our telephone lines are cut and we do not even have the basic right to medical care while these security forces along with the thugs have raided the apartment of our son, Mohammad Hossein despite his absence there. But none of these ploys, inhuman and childish acts are going to deter my husband.”

In her letter to Ali Larijani, the leader of the Majlis, Mrs. Karoubi explained the events around her home with these words. “Following your speech in the Majlis yesterday and the chants of some selected representatives of the regime who called for the execution of two allies of ayatollah Khomeini, we received news of the gathering of a group of thugs and mercenaries to attack our residence. The presence of police and security forces apparently prevented this from happening in the evening. But around 1:30am until 2:45am this group approached our neighborhood and on one hand chanted insulting slogans at me, my husband, engineer Mousavi, Mr. Khatami and Mr. Hashemi, while on the other hollered slogans in support of the leader and the regime. “

In another part of her letter Mrs. Karoubi, herself a Majlis representative, directs the authorities and leaders of the regime to pay attention to what may be really happening and wrote, “What was most unfortunate was the use of religious language and chants at the end of this gangster behavior. Should the use of this primitive behavior which are no longer seen even in non-civilized societies any longer, not make the leaders realize that perhaps a group agents intend to hurt Islam and people’s beliefs.” She ends her letter by reminding Larijani, and the readers, that such acts would not deter her husband from the path he has chosen.

In the latest twist on the conflicting and alarming news coming from Iran, the country’s semi-official Fars news agency quoted a senior judiciary official Ali Razini as saying that Mousavi and Karoubi would “definitely” be tried.