Meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for Lifting House Arrest with Sadegh Larijani

A member of parliament announced the meeting of the 'Lifting House Arrest' committee of the Hope faction of the Islamic Consultative Assembly with Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary. ISNA news agency reported this on Tuesday (November 7) citing Gholamreza Heydari. According to Mr. Heydari, this meeting took place on Tuesday afternoon, and he described it as 'good and hopeful regarding the reduction of restrictions for the house-arrested individuals.' According to the report, the 'Lifting House Arrest' committee was formed to follow up on the situation of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, the leaders of the protests following the 2009 presidential election, and its members have 'held meetings with state officials' so far. Meanwhile, the Kaleme website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, published this news stating that 'seven years have passed since the beginning of the house arrest, and currently, the only action taken has been the formation of this committee.' The website added that 'it was expected that with the start of Rouhani's government, the situation of the house-arrested individuals would change and the house arrest would end.' According to Kaleme, 'since the decision-making regarding house arrest is in the hands of the leadership, so far, the president and the Security Council, despite their efforts, have not been able to take any action other than changing the visitation status of the house-arrested individuals and removing security forces from inside Karroubi's house.' Kaleme also noted that the Lifting House Arrest committee met with 'the head of the institution that has imposed the most restrictions on the house-arrested individuals and has also expressed the most threats against them.' The website criticized that any 'even slight openings in the situation of the house-arrested individuals' have always been denied by the judiciary spokesperson. Previously, due to the presence of security forces in Mehdi Karroubi's house and ignoring his request for their removal, Mr. Karroubi went on a hunger strike, which he ended after the security forces left his home. Meanwhile, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the judiciary spokesperson, denied this issue. Last week, Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Security Council, also claimed that Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard can meet anyone they want, and the term house arrest is not correct for them. His statements were met with reactions from the families of Mousavi and Karroubi and several political and civil activists. For instance, one of Mir Hossein Mousavi's sisters stated that she has not been able to meet her brother for several months; following these remarks, 'one of the security agencies contacted Mousavi's sisters and stated that the secretary of the Security Council was unaware of the lack of visits.' Subsequently, the children of Rahnavard and Mousavi and Mousavi's sisters were able to meet with them. Hossein Karroubi, Mehdi Karroubi's son, had also previously stated that his family cannot visit their father whenever they wish, and this meeting is only possible once a week. Ali Motahari, the deputy speaker of parliament, also said on Sunday, November 5, that it seems 'new conditions' have emerged for Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, the leaders of the protesters against the 2009 election results. Mr. Motahari considered what he called 'new openings for the house-arrested individuals' as 'strengthening national unity' and expressed hope that 'house arrest would gradually end.' His reference was to the recent meetings of Mousavi's daughters and his two sisters with him and Ms. Rahnavard and the meeting of Ismail Doosti, a member of the National Trust Party, with Mehdi Karroubi. Lifting house arrest has been one of the main demands of Hassan Rouhani's supporters in the presidential elections of 2013 and 2017, and he made promises regarding lifting the house arrest either explicitly or implicitly in both elections. In this context, during the four years of Mr. Rouhani's first government, not only was no practical action taken to fulfill this promise, but during his second term, restrictions against Mohammad Khatami, the former president of Iran, were also increased.