Mir Hossein Mousavi Calls for Full Broadcast of His Negotiations with Khamenei in 2009

Following the release of an unpublished video by the office of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic regarding Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's comments about the 2009 elections, Mir Hossein Mousavi has also called for the uncensored and complete broadcast of his meeting with him. Recently, on the pretext of introducing a book about the events of 2009, referred to in the official literature of the Islamic Republic as 'sedition', statements from Ayatollah Khamenei during a meeting with several clerics shortly after that year's elections were aired. For the first time, the office of the Supreme Leader published a two-minute excerpt of his remarks in a meeting with a limited number of clerics, whose images were blurred in the video, where he criticized Mousavi and dismissed his views by quoting Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani against him. In a clip released by the office of the Supreme Leader on July 30, 2009, he tells several blurred individuals: 'Mr. Mousavi announced that there was fraud in this election, and this was the source of all subsequent events. Mr. Mousavi said: I defend your rights. People come. I will come too. Inviting people to disobedience, to rebellion, based on the claim that there was fraud in the election. The question is, how did you know there was fraud in the election? What evidence was presented? This became the source of subsequent statements. They tried to keep him in the scene.' The Supreme Leader added: 'I am aware of the numerous negotiations and discussions that have taken place with him. I also tried a lot, given my background with Mr. Mousavi, because there is an emotional connection and a unity of opinion on some specific issues between us and Mr. Mousavi. I took advantage of this opportunity, and on that Saturday afternoon (June 13, 2009), when he had issued a statement at noon, I sent someone to him. I said we should give him a warning to step back. But he said things that surprised me a lot. He said no. The election must be annulled. We had a meeting today with such and such people. Everyone in that meeting agreed that the election must be annulled. Of the four people who were in that meeting, two denied it. Two others remained, one of whom was Mr. Mousavi himself.' The Khabar Online website, close to Mr. Mousavi, reported that he suggested after learning about the release of this 'selective and edited clip' that 'the tape of the Leader's negotiations with him, which took place after the election, should also be broadcast in full and uncensored for the public's information.' This website did not publish any explanation about the content of this meeting or the information that Mousavi intended to provide to the public. However, Khabar Online wrote that 'the propaganda apparatus, on December 30 this year, like in previous years, spent a large budget from public funds to publish distorted and manipulated events of 2009. Dozens of speeches across the country, printing posters and banners in cities, broadcasting television documentaries, and publishing books were among the government actions to promote and undermine the imprisoned individuals.' This news was published on Wednesday (January 3) and three days after the anniversary of the government protests on December 30 against critics of the 2009 presidential election results. On that day and the days before and after, clerics and political figures close to the Supreme Leader revisited the events of 2009, condemning the unrest of that year and the protests by Mousavi, Karroubi, and other protesters, warning of the occurrence of a similar 'sedition' in 2019. Islamic Republic officials refer to the protests against the announced results of the 2009 elections as 'sedition.' Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary and the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, explicitly stated that 'the sedition of 2009 can happen again,' and Ali Mohammad Naqini, an advisor to the commander of the Revolutionary Guards, warned of 'tensions' in the coming solar year due to parliamentary elections and labor protests in Iran. Their warnings come after Ali Khamenei warned of events in 2019 from 'the enemy' to the country's officials and asked them to 'be mindful' of this issue. The first deputy of the Iranian judiciary also claimed on the anniversary of December 30 that Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states were financially supporting Mr. Karroubi. These statements were met with a reaction from Fatemeh Karroubi, the wife of Mehdi Karroubi, who told Ejei to have the 'courage to conduct a public trial' of Mehdi Karroubi instead of making accusations. These attacks on Karroubi and Mousavi come while they, along with Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, have been under house arrest without trial since February 2010. In 2009, the Committee for the Protection of Votes of Mousavi's campaign published a detailed report on the 'documents of alleged fraud and violations.' Recently, Mohammad Reza Khatami, the former secretary-general of the Participation Front Party, spoke about 'fraud' in this election through the addition of eight million votes to the total votes and has been summoned to court due to these statements. According to a report from the committee established by the leaders of the Green Movement to investigate the situation of those harmed in the post-election protests, more than 70 people were killed by security and anti-riot forces during these protests. Meanwhile, the Green Voice of Iran website had previously reported that this committee received reports about the deaths of about 300 people, but due to the arrests of its members, it was unable to investigate them.