Aref: Rouhani Should Negotiate to Lift House Arrest and Media Ban on Khatami

The head of the Hope faction in Parliament has called for President Rouhani to negotiate for the lifting of the house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement and the media ban on Mohammad Khatami. Another member of this faction also urged the Supreme Leader to issue an order to lift the house arrest. According to ISNA news agency, Mohammad Reza Aref, on Sunday, May 3, in a speech, asked the President to create the necessary assurances for 'lifting the house arrest and removing existing restrictions' through 'negotiation with the pillars of the system.' Aref stated that the Islamic Republic has 'such power, stability, and popular support that any house arrest, restriction, and media ban on the sympathizers and allies of the revolution is not befitting this system and has caused unnecessary and irreparable costs.' He emphasized that lifting the house arrest and restrictions 'will not only pose a threat to the security and tranquility of the country but will replace the bitterness of past events with the sweetness of understanding and solidarity.' The house arrest of the leaders protesting the 2009 presidential election continues, while Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, promised during his 2013 election campaign that he would resolve the 'house arrest issue' if elected. Meanwhile, several political figures, including Ali Motahari, have continuously emphasized the illegality of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, while Motahari, who has discussed the lifting of the house arrest with the Supreme Leader, believes that the main opponent of lifting the house arrest is Ayatollah Khamenei himself. Recently, Mohsen Rahami, a member of the reformist policy council, and Rasul Montajebnia, the deputy of the National Trust Party, discussed the request to lift the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders in a meeting with the Supreme Leader, and according to Montajebnia, Ayatollah Khamenei acknowledged their concerns. The issue of lifting the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders was also raised during Hassan Rouhani's speech in Qazvin, where a group of attendees chanted slogans about it, but Rouhani did not directly respond to this issue in his speech, only stating that 'we do not want to keep Iran in a state of house arrest and we want to lift it forever.' This matter may also refer to Iran's political and economic isolation during years of sanctions. Regarding the lifting of the house arrest of the leaders protesting the 2009 presidential election, some government officials and political figures, including Ali Yunusi, an assistant to Hassan Rouhani on ethnic and minority affairs, have explicitly stated that the government has no authority in this matter. In this context, Hossein Karroubi, the son of Mehdi Karroubi, also reported in August 2016 that Hassan Rouhani had raised the issue of lifting the house arrest in several meetings with the Supreme Leader, but 'due to the distractions of his entourage, he was unable to continue the discussions.' Meanwhile, Gholamreza Heydari, a member of the Hope faction in Parliament, also on Sunday, in a reminder in the open session of Parliament, requested the Supreme Leader to instruct officials that 'this house arrest should not be prolonged any further.' According to ILNA news agency, he also asked Hassan Rouhani, as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, to request Ayatollah Khamenei to lift the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders and cancel the media ban on Mohammad Khatami. Heydari added: 'These individuals are in a specific physical and age condition, and if, God forbid, something happens to the house-arrested individuals like what happened to Ayatollah Hashemi, it will not be befitting the Islamic Republic.' He suggested that the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council conduct a 'comprehensive and in-depth study' on why, since the beginning of the revolution, presidents, prime ministers, and speakers of Parliament have generally been subjected to imprisonment or house arrest and why the recurrence of these events has become a trend. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, who protested the results of the 2009 presidential election, have been under house arrest without trial since February 2011, and the media ban on Mohammad Khatami has been in place since winter 2014. Judicial officials claim that Khatami's media ban was implemented based on the authorities given to the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council in one of its resolutions, but government officials have stated, citing the Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council and the head of this council, that there is no resolution in this regard.