Rahnavard: A Woman Has Been Imprisoned for Seven Years, They Won't Even Acknowledge It

Zahra Rahnavard, one of the prominent figures protesting the 2009 elections who is under house arrest, during a meeting with her children, denied the recent statements of the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, who claimed that 'the gentlemen are not under house arrest.' She stated, 'They are not even willing to acknowledge that they have imprisoned a woman for seven years.' Rahnavard's recent remarks were reported by the Kaleme website on November 8, citing her daughters and Mir Hossein Mousavi following a recent visit. Ten days prior to this meeting, Ali Shamkhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, stated that the use of the term 'house arrest' for Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi is 'not correct.' Although Shamkhani intended to deny the existence of house arrest, he did not mention Zahra Rahnavard in his remarks. He noted that the issues related to Mousavi and Karroubi arose after the 2009 presidential elections and that they are 'not under house arrest.' In response to Shamkhani's comments, Zahra Rahnavard expressed, 'I did not expect this from you, Mr. Shamkhani! The gentlemen have imprisoned 'a woman' for nearly seven years and deprived her of academic, artistic, and social activities in a tyrannical house arrest, and I have spent these days and nights in this situation.' In another part of her remarks exchanged during the meeting with her children, she added that she has 'no requests from anyone' and will not have any. The Kaleme website also reported on November 8, citing Mohammad Hossein Karroubi, Mehdi Karroubi's son, that the openings that have occurred for his father have not been made for Rahnavard and Mousavi. Mehdi Karroubi's health status has recently faced serious concerns, and he has been transferred to the hospital several times for treatment and medical care. Mohammad Hossein Karroubi stated that the new situation for his father 'is only comparable to the early days of Ayatollah Montazeri's house arrest.' Ayatollah Montazeri was one of the main clerics during the 1979 revolution who later joined the critics and ultimately remained under house arrest or surveillance until his death. Despite mentioning relative openings regarding his father, Mehdi Karroubi's son added that the situation for Rahnavard and Mousavi is still distant from that of Mehdi Karroubi. He said, 'Until a few days ago, as far as I knew, the openings that occurred for Mr. Karroubi's family have not yet happened for Mr. Mousavi's family, and the meetings of Mr. Mousavi's children and Mrs. Rahnavard with their parents are still only once a week.' However, Mohammad Hossein Karroubi emphasized, 'They have promised them that the openings that have occurred for Mr. Karroubi's family will also happen for them.' The 2009 elections, which resulted in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory and widespread protests in Iran, ultimately led to the house arrest of Zahra Rahnavard, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and Mehdi Karroubi. Fatemeh Karroubi was also placed under house arrest for a time. The election protesters, who had previously served as Prime Minister or Speaker of the Islamic Republic, claimed that fraud occurred in favor of Ahmadinejad during the voting and counting of votes. They ultimately refused to retract their accusations or apologize. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic confirmed the results of that election and supported Mr. Ahmadinejad, although eight years later, he asked him not to run for election, and the Guardian Council also rejected his qualification. The house arrest of Rahnavard, Karroubi, and Mousavi has continued without regard to the demands of domestic organizations, human rights defenders, and campaigns aimed at the freedom of political and ideological prisoners in Iran. According to reports from human rights organizations and observers of freedom of expression and belief, Iran is the third-largest prison for journalists, the largest prison in the world for female media activists, one of the largest restrictors of the free flow of information on the internet, and one of the major countries in the world that sentences juvenile defendants to death. The human rights situation in Iran, torture, mass convictions of opponents, and the ambiguity surrounding killings or executions carried out for political purposes have faced repeated criticism from UN special observers. Iran denies these accusations, claiming they are politically motivated and ignore the human rights situation in some other countries.