Ministry of Health: We Have Not Been Assigned Responsibility for the Treatment of the Detained

Following concerns expressed by the families of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi regarding their health, and the Karroubi family's protest against "deliberate disruption" in his treatment process, Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education announced that it has no responsibility for monitoring the medical condition of the "detained" individuals. In a statement published on the ministry's news website on Tuesday, August 1, it emphasized that "no responsibility for monitoring the treatment of the detained has been assigned to this ministry so far." Recently, Mehdi Karroubi's children reported that he had been transferred to the hospital twice due to heart issues. In this regard, Fatemeh Karroubi, Mehdi Karroubi's wife, stated that he was moved to the intensive care unit after angiography, but "doctors do not yet consider open-heart surgery and stenting appropriate for him." Mir Hossein Mousavi's daughters also recently announced that during their last visit with their parents, they noticed that their father was experiencing "severe fluctuations in blood pressure and severe dizziness." They criticized the way health follow-ups for Mr. Mousavi and Ms. Rahnavard were being handled in an interview published on August 1 in the newspaper Jomhouri Eslami. The Ministry of Health's statement was issued in response to these concerns. The statement noted that the health minister's visits to the hospital were "personal actions" and aimed at "reporting to higher authorities, at the request of these authorities." The statement did not elaborate further on this matter. Previously, it was reported that the health minister had been tasked by the president to monitor the health of the detained individuals and to take necessary medical actions, stating that these actions were "done with the trust of the head of the judiciary." Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi had also stated in an interview with the newspaper Etemad last August that "medically, pharmaceutically, and nursing-wise, everything that the detained individuals requested has been provided for them, and there has been no restriction on choosing a doctor." He added that "even if he were not the minister, he could visit them upon their request" and that "he is constantly aware of their physical, mental, and psychological conditions." However, now the child of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard stated in an interview with Jomhouri Eslami that "the minister's assistance requires that we receive news about the health status of our parents. Although getting our news to him is also subject to the existing restrictions in the country." He added that "the minister's authority in specific security matters" also limits him, and all these obstacles and difficulties have raised our concerns about ensuring our parents' health. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, who led the protests against the 2009 election results, have been under house arrest since February 14, 2011, and the government of Hassan Rouhani has not yet fulfilled its promise to lift their house arrest. The lifting of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi is among the demands that supporters of Hassan Rouhani emphasized in numerous gatherings before this year's presidential election. Political groups and figures, including the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary, the Islamic Medical Society, several Islamic student associations, and thousands of individuals, including a number of political, social, and civil activists in Iran, have called for an end to the house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement.