Mir Hossein Mousavi Visits His Brother's House After 9 Years

The Iran newspaper reported that Mir Hossein Mousavi, one of the leaders of the protests against the 2009 presidential election results, was able to visit his brother, Mir Mahmoud Mousavi, two weeks ago after nine years, and met with him "in the presence of security agents." The newspaper noted in the introduction to the interview with Mir Mahmoud Mousavi that this visit occurred "due to a slight easing of house arrest." The majority of the interview with Mir Mahmoud Mousavi, former director general of West Asia at the Foreign Ministry, published in the Saturday, October 14 edition of Iran newspaper, discusses foreign policy issues. He also mentioned that the "negative effects of the house arrest" of these three individuals "have affected everyone." According to Mir Mahmoud Mousavi, "the lifting of the house arrest is one of the serious demands of those who understand the country's issues... and realize how wrong it has been to imprison three individuals without a judicial order and then provide one-sided propaganda mechanisms and billions in costs to distort the facts." Reports have emerged in recent months regarding the lifting of some restrictions on Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard. Events such as the visit of Mehdi Karroubi's relatives with him during Nowruz, the "opening of welded windows" of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard's home, and allowing them to leave to meet their children are among these occurrences. Ismail Doosti, a member of the National Trust Party, and Mojtaba Zolnour, a representative from the Front of Steadfastness in Parliament, have also visited Mehdi Karroubi at his place of house arrest. Zahra Rahnavard reported in Ordibehesht that she had recently been verbally offered "limited movement rights" with the knowledge of the agents, which she rejected. Meanwhile, the Khabar Online website, close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, on Thursday, October 12, denied the rumor of lifting the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders, quoting Zahra Rahnavard, who stated that if there is a will to lift the house arrest, "it should be announced officially and in writing." Hassan Rouhani had promised to lift the house arrest during the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections, and since the beginning of 2018, criticisms from reformist figures regarding his failure to pursue the issue of house arrest have increased. The Saham News website, close to Mehdi Karroubi, reported in Mordad that Hassan Rouhani had requested the lifting of the house arrest of the Green Movement leaders in a letter to Ayatollah Khamenei, but the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic opposed this again.