Mesbah Yazdi: The Supreme Leader's Decree Prevented the Execution of Opposition Leaders

Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, stated in an interview that the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's 'government decree' has prevented the 'execution' of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. His remarks were published as the main headline in the Saturday, December 27 issue of the 9 Dey newspaper. In response to the question of why the leaders of the 2009 presidential election protests were placed under house arrest without a trial or judicial ruling, he said that 'the legitimacy of this decree is based on the ruling of the Islamic ruler.' This member of the Assembly of Experts added that the ruling against the leaders of the Green Movement is, in principle and legally, a ruling of 'execution', but based on 'expediency', the 'initial execution ruling has been waived', and that expediency is determined by the 'Guardian Jurist'. Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi emphasized: 'If there were no expediency, according to normal procedures, they should have been tried and undoubtedly sentenced to execution. Not just once, but for various reasons, they should be executed.' Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated on July 8 of this year that in a meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader described the crimes of Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi as 'serious' and said that if they were to be tried, 'a very heavy sentence' awaited them. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were two candidates who protested the announced results of the 2009 presidential elections in Iran. They then led the protest movement after that election until the winter of 2010, when following a call for protests from their supporters on February 14, they were confined to their homes, and their communication with the outside world was severely restricted. Zahra Rahnavard, the wife of Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Fatemeh Karroubi, the wife of Mr. Karroubi, were also imprisoned with them until Mrs. Karroubi was released after a while. This is not the first time a government official close to the Supreme Leader has mentioned leniency towards the imprisoned leaders of the 2009 protests. Previously, Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, also stated that 'the system has been very lenient with the leaders of the sedition, allowing them to remain alive.' 'Sedition' is a term used by Mr. Khamenei and several other officials of the Islamic Republic and their supporters to describe the protests known as the Green Movement. In the approximately four years since the house arrest of Zahra Rahnavard, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mir Hossein Mousavi, many individuals and organizations inside and outside Iran have called for their house arrest to be lifted, but no changes have occurred in this matter so far. Mohammad Reza Toiserkani, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Basij Organization, recently stated that efforts to lift the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi should be 'secretive' and that the decisions of 'legal centers' in this regard must ultimately be approved by the Supreme Leader.