Karrubi's Son: Death Sentences Are Issued from Platforms, While No Court Has Been Held Yet

The son of Mehdi Karrubi described the statements from close associates of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic regarding the death sentences for his father and Mir Hossein Mousavi as "illegal" and noted that "even" during the former Shah's regime, a court was held for the execution of Nobave Safavi. Hossein Karrubi, in an interview with the electronic newspaper Omid Iranians published on Wednesday, January 8, stated: "It is unfair and even illegal for individuals to issue death sentences from official platforms in the country, especially when the judiciary has neither held a court nor issued a ruling." He emphasized that "even in the previous regime," a court was held for Mojtaba Nobave Safavi due to the assassination of Ali Razmara, and he was unjustly sentenced to death afterward. Hossein Karrubi stressed that his father has repeatedly insisted on being tried, adding: "We expect a court to be formed and a ruling to be issued before these gentlemen make statements." In recent days, ahead of the government rally on January 9, associates of the Supreme Leader have severely attacked Mr. Mousavi and Karrubi, with some declaring that the verdict for the leaders of the Green Movement, if a court were to be held, would be "death." On Wednesday, Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, deemed the actions of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi as "worthy of serious trial," and Hamid Shahriari, Deputy of the Judiciary, stated that "if it weren't for Islamic clemency," their punishment would be like that of the Mujahideen Khalq group. Several Friday prayer leaders, including Youssef Tabatabai, the Friday prayer leader of Isfahan, announced on January 3 that they "must be executed" and that they are "enjoying themselves at home" only due to "Islamic compassion." On the same day, Kazem Sedighi, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, dismissed calls for lifting the house arrest or holding a trial for Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi as "irrelevant remarks." Meanwhile, Hossein Karrubi expressed surprise at the intense attacks on his father and Mir Hossein Mousavi in recent days and emphasized that no action has been taken towards his father's trial. He noted that these individuals attacking Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi "are trying to highlight their own backgrounds and present themselves as more revolutionary" and "elevate themselves." Mehdi Karrubi's son referred to Kazem Sedighi, the Friday prayer leader of Tehran, and quoted Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the former mayor of Tehran, stating that Mr. Sedighi used to "tear up pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini" in the seminary before the revolution and "replace them with pictures of Shari'atmadari." Saba Shardoust, a journalist who interviewed Hossein Karrubi, published parts of this interview that, according to her, could not be released due to media restrictions on her Facebook page. In this interview, Hossein Karrubi also mentioned that "two large plots of land in Shemiran" have been allocated to Kazem Sedighi, and "the lands that used to be cherry orchards have been destroyed" and a seminary is being built for Mr. Sedighi with state funds. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karrubi, leaders of the protesters against the results of the 2009 presidential election, have been under house arrest since February 2011 without a trial. Mehdi Karrubi, after three years of "house arrest" in the "safe house" of the Ministry of Intelligence, was moved to his home in Jamaran in February 2014 but remains under house arrest. Despite threats regarding the trial of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karrubi, they have repeatedly called for their own trial, and Mehdi Karrubi, in a letter to Hassan Rouhani, emphasized that he does not consider lifting the house arrest to be "in his hands" and asked him to request the "tyrannical regime" to put him on trial in an "open court." Meanwhile, Ali Motahari and some other officials have announced that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, opposes the trial or release of these three individuals. Lifting the house arrest of the leaders of the 2009 presidential election protests was one of Hassan Rouhani's electoral promises in the 2013 presidential election. In this context, Hadi Khamenei, a reformist figure, recently criticized the lack of follow-up on this issue during a meeting with the children of Mir Hossein Mousavi, stating: "It is good for those who have claimed to follow up on the house arrest issue to clearly and without political maneuvering and unreasonable statements say what they have done in this regard." He emphasized: "It is not correct for individuals, either in the name of moderation or reform, to spend all their efforts to gain power and ignore the demands of the people; they will soon lose their supporters." The children of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, as well as the children of Mehdi Karrubi, have previously criticized Hassan Rouhani's government for its "indifference" to lifting the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, had previously stated in response to these protests that the government "cannot do anything" about lifting the house arrest and should not be expected to act in this regard.