Motahari: The slogans indicate that officials must resolve the house arrest issue sooner

Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, considered the slogans of Green Movement supporters during the funeral of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as a sign that "the authorities must resolve the issue of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi sooner." Mr. Motahari wrote on his Twitter that "the slogans of the people at the funeral of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani indicate that the authorities must resolve the house arrest of the leaders of the 2009 protests sooner." On Tuesday, January 22, during the funeral of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, supporters of the Green Movement chanted slogans in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mohammad Khatami, to the extent that the official Iranian television cut the sound of the crowd in its broadcasts. In videos published on social media, a large number of people chanted, "The house arrest must be broken, our message is clear," "Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein," "Our shame, our shame, our voice and image," "Hashemi's advice, support for Khatami," "Mousavi and Karroubi condolences," "Greetings to Hashemi, greetings to Khatami," "The loudspeaker is yours, the voice of truth is ours," and "Khatami, Khatami, your place is empty today" among other slogans that people shouted while accompanying Hashemi. Ali Motahari and some other officials have stated that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, is opposed to the trial or release of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi. Despite threats regarding the trial of these three individuals, they have repeatedly called for their own trial, and Mehdi Karroubi, in a letter to Hassan Rouhani, emphasized that he does not consider the lifting of the house arrest to be "in his hands," and has asked him to request the "tyrannical regime" to put him on trial in a "public court." In recent weeks, on the occasion of the government rally on December 30, close associates of the Supreme Leader have severely attacked Mr. Mousavi and Karroubi, with some announcing that the verdict for the leaders of the Green Movement, if a trial were to be held, would be "execution." Hossein Karroubi, the son of Mehdi Karroubi, in response to these threats, stated that his father has repeatedly insisted on being tried, and it is expected that his trial will be held first and "then the gentlemen can comment." Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, the leaders of the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, have been under house arrest without trial since February 2011. Mehdi Karroubi, after three years of "detention" in a "safe house" of the Ministry of Intelligence, was transferred to his home in Jamaran in February 2014 but remains under house arrest. The children of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, as well as the children of Mehdi Karroubi, have previously criticized Hassan Rouhani's government for its "indifference" to lifting the house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement.