Judiciary's Reaction to U.S. Request for Lifting House Arrest: 'You Can't Do Anything'

On Tuesday, January 28, the head of Iran's judiciary addressed the U.S. President and the State Department regarding the issue of lifting house arrest, stating, 'You can't do anything.' Sadeq Amoli Larijani made these remarks in response to a statement from the U.S. State Department concerning the request to lift the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two candidates who protested the results of the 2009 presidential election. According to ISNA news agency, Amoli Larijani said, 'Recently, the U.S. State Department has made comments about our country, the judiciary, and that certain individuals should not be under house arrest, and they want to teach our researchers about the constitution.' He added, 'We rely on the people and their presence on February 11 to tell the U.S. State Department and above all the U.S. President that you can't do anything.' On Saturday, January 25, Jen Psaki, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, condemned the house arrest of Zahra Rahnavard, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mehdi Karroubi, calling for their immediate release. Marzieh Afkhami, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, described this statement on January 26 as 'a clear example of interference in Iran's internal affairs.' The head of the judiciary also referred to the U.S. State Department's statement as 'nonsense.' He emphasized, 'We do not intend to oppress or violate anyone, and we see it as our human duty to implement justice, but addressing those who were influential in the sedition is a duty.' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and his close associates refer to the protests against the 2009 presidential election results as 'sedition' and label Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi as 'leaders of the sedition.' In his remarks on Tuesday, Amoli Larijani also stated, 'In any case, our behavior towards these individuals must be religious, and we act accordingly, and everything that has happened so far has been based on law and is not flawed.' Amoli Larijani had previously deemed the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi as 'legal' based on a resolution from the Supreme National Security Council. In response to the judiciary head's argument, Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran in the parliament, stated that the house arrest of these three individuals violates multiple principles of the Islamic Republic's constitution. The Human Rights Defenders Center, led by Shirin Ebadi, also announced on January 25 that the Supreme Leader and the Supreme National Security Council do not have the legal authority to issue house arrest orders. Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi had called for a rally in support of the protests in Egypt and Tunisia in February 2011. Since then, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, have been held under house arrest without a court order. In recent days, as the fifth anniversary of their house arrest approaches, some human rights organizations have called for an end to this house arrest. The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran on Tuesday, January 28, urged the Iranian judiciary and the Supreme National Security Council to immediately end what they termed 'extrajudicial' house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement. Hadi Ghaemi, the director of this campaign, stated, 'House arrest and effectively imprisoning dissenting political candidates in their homes for the past four years without charges is a clear injustice and a violation of Iranian and international laws.' He added, 'As the head of the National Security Council, President Rouhani has the power to release these three leaders, and his authority in this area is likely even greater than that of the judiciary.' Previously, Mehdi Karroubi's children criticized Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, accusing him of failing to uphold his electoral promises to lift the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi.