Bahonar Described Continued House Arrest as the 'Best Situation' for Green Movement Leaders

The former Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, stated that the 'best situation' for Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, leaders of the Green Movement, is their continued house arrest. He reported that Mr. Mousavi rejected his suggestion to announce that he would not engage in political activities for years if released. In an interview with ILNA, published on Saturday, August 13, he said, 'It has been said many times. The best situation that can continue is the house arrest.' According to Bahonar, if a trial were to be held for Mousavi and Karroubi, the verdict would be 'heavy' and it might not be in the interest of the regime to execute such a ruling. The Secretary-General of the Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership also mentioned that the outcome of this trial would be 'detrimental to both reformists and these individuals.' He further emphasized that there are times when these leaders claim they want to live their lives without interference, but at other times, they seek to create a backlash. It is clear that the regime will not allow such actions. Bahonar also mentioned that he recently sent a message to Mousavi suggesting he announce that if released, he would not engage in political activities for years, but it seems Mousavi did not accept this proposal. Previously, Ali Motahari had stated that in a meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader described the crimes of Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi as significant and indicated that a 'very heavy' sentence awaited them if they were tried. Despite these threats, the leaders of the Green Movement have repeatedly called for their trial, and Mehdi Karroubi, in a letter to Hassan Rouhani, emphasized that he does not consider the lifting of his house arrest to be in Rouhani's hands, urging him to ask the 'tyrannical regime' to put him on trial in a 'public court.' In contrast, Sadegh Larijani, the head of Iran's judiciary, stated that whenever the Supreme National Security Council's resolution regarding the house arrest of these two individuals changes, the judiciary is ready to hold their trial. However, Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, has said that this body cannot report on the house arrest situation at present. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi have been under house arrest without trial for over two thousand days since late February 2011. The only change in their status has been the transfer of Mehdi Karroubi's house arrest from the 'safe house' of the Ministry of Intelligence to his home in Jamaran in February 2014. Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, conveyed a message to her children on the eve of their two-thousandth day of house arrest, stating, 'If two thousand years pass, we have no wish other than the dignity of the country and freedom and justice for the people.' Previously, several officials of the Islamic Republic, including Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, have stated that the decision to lift the house arrest of these three individuals is solely in the hands of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. The former Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament also said, 'In the world, we cannot find anyone who acts against a regime and is free.' He emphasized that 'the opposition to the regime is not allowed to attempt or operate anywhere in the world. It is like telling someone that you are allowed to have a revolution.' The Secretary-General of the Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership stated that the Iranian revolution in 1979 was also 'illegal' and added that 'that is why there was imprisonment, house arrest, exile, and martyrdom.' Bahonar also mentioned in an interview on August 10 with the electronic newspaper Omid Iranians regarding the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders and the media ban on Mohammad Khatami, the former president, that 'if I become the opposition to the regime, I must be prepared for execution.' He emphasized, 'If someone wants to work against the regime, they must be ready for everything. It cannot be said that a red carpet should be laid out for me to work against the regime.' The former Deputy Speaker stated, 'I clearly say that part of the revolutionary family is anti-revolutionary. So what should be done? We have no niceties. Is there any country that allows the opposition to work against the legal regime?'. Islamic Republic officials have repeatedly claimed that in all countries of the world, those who do not accept the ruling system cannot hold government positions or engage in political activities. For instance, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, January 19, that in all parts of the world, bodies like the Guardian Council exist to confirm the qualifications of candidates, and 'nowhere in the world is someone who does not accept the ruling system allowed into decision-making centers.' However, some opponents of the Islamic Republic and also some reformists have repeatedly rejected this claim, stating that the level of political freedoms in Iran is not even comparable to some countries in the region. For example, Mostafa Tajzadeh, the political deputy of the Minister of Interior in Khatami's government, in a letter from prison to Ayatollah Khamenei in February 2016, rejected his claim and stated that elections in countries like Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey, Malaysia, Tunisia, Afghanistan, and Palestine are held more freely than in Iran. According to Tajzadeh, in these countries, 'Muslims and Marxists, liberals and socialists, veiled and unveiled, men and women are nominated and compete with each other using written, audio-visual, and virtual media.' Bahonar, who is the Secretary-General of the Islamic Engineers Society, was elected as the head of this front in 2013 after the death of Habibollah Asgaroladi, the former head of the Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership. The Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership is an alliance of 17 conservative political groups, the most famous of which are the Islamic Engineers Society and the Islamic Coalition Party. This group supported Ali Akbar Velayati in the 2013 presidential election.