Call for End to House Arrest at Ibrahim Yazdi's Funeral

The funeral ceremony for Ibrahim Yazdi, the Secretary-General of the Freedom Movement of Iran, was held on Thursday, September 9, at the Hosseiniyeh Ershad in Tehran, attended by a significant number of people and political figures. One of the slogans from the crowd was: 'Our message is clear, the house arrest must end.' Ibrahim Yazdi passed away at the age of 86 in Izmir, Turkey, after battling cancer, which had worsened in recent weeks. The news of his death was announced on Sunday evening, September 5. The funeral took place on Thursday morning with the presence of various political figures and activists, including Abdullah Nouri, Mohammad-Reza Khatami, Mohammad Maleki, Lotfollah Mihtami, Morteza Alviri, Faezollah Arab-Sorkhi, Abolfazl Bazargan, Mostafa Tajzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Abolfazl Ghadiyani, Hamidreza Jalai Pour, Azar Mansouri, Ahmad Zeidabadi, and Mohsen Armin. During the ceremony, attendees chanted slogans such as 'Yazdi, Bazargan, the movement continues.' Videos shared on social media, including Twitter, captured the chant 'Our message is clear, the house arrest must end.' According to the state news agency IRNA, following these chants, Yazdi's family requested that attendees refrain from chanting. Ibrahim Yazdi was born in 1931 in Qazvin and moved to Tehran with his family at the age of six. Before the 1979 revolution, he moved to the United States with his wife and children. While Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was in France, Yazdi was one of his advisors and returned to Iran with him after the revolution. During the provisional government of Mehdi Bazargan, Yazdi served first as Deputy Prime Minister and then as Foreign Minister, resigning alongside Bazargan. After the first parliamentary elections post-revolution, he was elected from Tehran. Some critics claim that Yazdi played a role in the 'trial' and execution of several commanders of the former imperial army of Iran. According to another account, he attempted to use his influence to save the lives of some former officials. In 2012, Yazdi was sentenced to eight years in prison and five years of social rights deprivation by the Iranian Revolutionary Court on charges such as 'acting against national security' and 'spreading falsehoods' in connection with the Freedom Movement of Iran. He responded to this ruling by stating that the Revolutionary Court lacked the authority to adjudicate the charges against him.