Physical Altercation with Ali Motahari in the Open Session of Parliament

According to Fars and ILNA news agencies, an 'attack' by some parliament members on Ali Motahari, the representative of Tehran, and a physical altercation following his repeated request for the lifting of house arrest on Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi during his speech, caused a temporary suspension of the open session of parliament. On Sunday, January 21, Motahari emphasized his previous positions and called for the lifting of the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi, two leaders who protested the results of the 2009 presidential election. During Motahari's speech, some parliament members shouted slogans such as 'Death to the hypocrite' and 'Death to the seditionist' and rushed towards him. According to ILNA, several representatives attempted to 'pull Motahari down from the podium,' but he continued his speech. The news agency mentioned 'Fathollah Hosseini, the representative of Qasr-e Shirin, and Aziz Akbarian, the representative of Karaj' as the representatives who engaged with Motahari. Fars news agency also reported that Hosseini and Akbarian, who went to invite Motahari to step down from the podium, faced strong physical resistance from him. Reports indicate that several other representatives, including Nader Qazipour, the representative of Urmia, Safar Naeimi Rez, the representative of Astara, Hossein Ali Haji Deligani, the representative of Shahin Shahr, and Mehdi Mousavi Nejad, the representative of Dashtestan, gathered at the podium and demanded the end of Motahari's speech with slogans of 'Death to the seditionist.' Other Iranian news agencies reported that after these altercations, Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi-Fard, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament who was presiding over the session, rang the bell to suspend the open session in the middle of Motahari's speech. Following these events and the temporary suspension of the session, journalists were asked to leave the parliament chamber. According to the state news agency IRNA, the open session resumed after a 25-minute break. The news agency reported that Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi, during Motahari's speech, remarked: 'You are in the real atmosphere of the country where what has been done regarding these individuals has been done with utmost Islamic compassion and with consideration for national interests.' He added, 'If the system's will was not for compassion, it would certainly have been done differently... These kinds of rulings have been determined by the system based on definitive, religious rulings and the authorities defined by the Constitution.' According to Fars news agency, Ali Motahari responded to these comments by saying, 'It would have been better if Mr. Abutorabi had given this reminder to me after my speech.' In his speech, Motahari also stated: 'I consider the house arrest of Mr. Mousavi, Mr. Karroubi, and Ms. Rahnavard after the end of the street riots without a judicial order to be against multiple principles of the Constitution and believe that its continuation is detrimental to the Islamic Revolution.' He added, 'I believe that in this regard, the Supreme National Security Council, chaired by the President, and the Judiciary have been negligent.' Motahari further clarified in another part of his speech that 'everyone knows that I have no attachment to Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karroubi at all, and I voted for Mr. Rezaei in the 2009 election. My goal in raising this issue is a larger matter, which is the Islamic treatment of government critics.' Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi have been under house arrest without trial since February 2011 based on a resolution by the Supreme National Security Council. Motahari has previously called for the lifting of the house arrest or the trial of the leaders who protested the results of the 2009 election alongside Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as another cause of the post-election events. On July 8, Motahari stated that in a meeting with Ayatollah Khamenei, he heard that 'the crime of Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi is great,' and Khamenei told him that if they were to be tried, 'a very heavy sentence' awaited them. Meanwhile, '230 representatives' of the Iranian parliament, in an open session on Tuesday, January 16, issued a statement deeming the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi 'legal' and requested the Judiciary to 'make decisions regarding them after the expiration of the Supreme National Security Council's deadline.'