A Senior Commander of the IRGC: Hassan Rouhani Had No Opposition to the House Arrest of Green Movement Leaders

The deputy head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization claimed that the Supreme Leader of Iran had "no involvement" in the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders, stating that the house arrest was approved by the Chief Justice at the National Security Council and that none of the council members, including Hassan Rouhani, opposed it. According to a report by Fars News Agency on Wednesday, September 13, Hussein Nejat said in a speech that the Chief Justice requested the National Security Council to place Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi under house arrest after the February 25, 2011 rally. He added: "This issue was reviewed in the secretariat and raised in the National Security Council, and not a single person opposed it, while individuals like Mr. Rouhani were representatives of the leadership at that time." Nejat also commented on the reason for the lack of trial for the Green Movement leaders, stating: "In any case, expediency is a principle; the National Security Council is a major authority for this matter according to the law, and this council has made this decision." Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, leaders of the protests against the 2009 presidential election results, and Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, have been under house arrest without trial since February 2011. Meanwhile, Ezzatollah Zarghami, the former head of the state broadcasting organization, recently stated that there was a consensus in the National Security Council in 2011 regarding the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders, which is why there was no vote. According to Zarghami, in sessions of the National Security Council, issues that have "consensus" are not voted on. He emphasized that the house arrest was a solution to "end street clashes, not a punishment." Mousavi and Karroubi have repeatedly called for a public trial, but judiciary officials oppose this request, stating that their house arrest was decided by the National Security Council. Meanwhile, Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, on August 21, reiterated in a letter to the judiciary spokesman that the continuation of the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders by the National Security Council's resolution is "against the constitution" and questioned whether the opposition to their trial "does not create the suspicion of fear of revealing the truths?" Motahari previously reported that the Supreme Leader opposed his request for the trial of Mousavi and Karroubi, stating that their verdict would be "heavy" if a trial were held. Besides Motahari, some political figures, including Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri, have stated that the decision regarding lifting the house arrest is solely in the hands of the Supreme Leader. However, the deputy head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization claimed that Ayatollah Khamenei "has had no involvement in the house arrest matters at all." The claim of the Supreme Leader's non-involvement in the house arrest issue comes while Article 176 of the Constitution states that the resolutions of the National Security Council can only be implemented with the Leader's approval. He added: "Even today, if for some expediencies the National Security Council decides to change the conditions of the house arrest, the judiciary's right to prosecute them remains intact because all three of these individuals have open criminal cases." Nejat also claimed that several political figures who were imprisoned and released in 2009 have "formed a committee" and intend to "pretend that lifting the house arrest is the people's demand." He stated that this committee is considered by the IRGC as a "committee to revive sedition" and that "the system controls their illegal actions and will deal with them in coordination with the judiciary when necessary." The deputy head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization did not provide further details about this claim. Previously, several members of parliament and political groups and activists inside the country have called for the lifting of the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders. Last week, a group of national-religious activists inside the country wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani, demanding immediate action to lift the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders, stating that he, as the head of the National Security Council, has "sufficient authority" to intervene in this matter and "to persuade the high-ranking officials of the system." The recent National Security Council meeting regarding the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard has made headlines in recent weeks, with government and judiciary officials providing differing accounts of this meeting. Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, reported on September 7 that the issue of house arrest was raised in the National Security Council and expressed hope that with the withdrawal of security forces from the house arrest of Mr. Karroubi, "next steps" would also be taken. The withdrawal of security officers from the house arrest of Mehdi Karroubi was one of his two demands during his hunger strike, and government officials and Karroubi's family have reported the fulfillment of this condition. Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, the judiciary spokesman, stated on September 3 that no new decision was made in the recent National Security Council meeting and that "the house arrest remains in effect." After that, Mr. Nobakht announced that the President's positions in the recent National Security Council meeting were "clear, transparent, and courageous, but let us allow, since the discussions have a security nature, to be expressed by the Secretary of the National Security Council." Following that, Keyvan Khosravi, the spokesman for the National Security Council, reported that the issue of house arrest was not on the agenda of the recent council meeting, and only a report about "the openings created in the situation of the detainees" was presented, and "no new decision was made regarding the main issue of house arrest." He stated without providing details that the comments of officials from other institutions in this regard "interfere with the duties of the secretariat of the council" and "cannot fully and comprehensively explain the dimensions of the issue." In the June 30 rally, "37 people were killed." The deputy head of the IRGC Intelligence Organization also stated without providing details that 37 people were killed in the June 30, 2009 rally, one day after Ayatollah Khamenei's Friday prayer sermon. Nejat also claimed that he was "a disguised observer of the scenes" during the Ashura rally of 2009 and was "even injured." The website "Neday-e Sabz-e Azadi," affiliated with reformists, previously reported that at least 72 people were killed and at least 160 were severely injured during the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election. This data is related to the activities of the "Committee for Following Up on the Affairs of Victims of Post-Election Incidents," which was formed by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Members of this committee, including Morteza Alviri and Mohammad Reza Moqiseh, were arrested in 2009, and the information held by this committee was also seized by intelligence agents. According to this report, this committee received reports regarding the deaths of over 300 people in these protests but was able to review and confirm documents related to the deaths of 72 people during its activity.