Restrictions on Meetings Between Mousavi, Rahnavard, and Their Daughters Lifted

The Khabar Online website close to Mir Hossein Mousavi reported that the restrictions on meetings between Mr. Mousavi and his wife Zahra Rahnavard, leaders of the 2009 protests, with their relatives have been lifted, allowing their daughters to meet with them without a weekly schedule. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have been under house arrest since late February 2011, and while their meetings during this time were limited to their immediate family, these meetings were subject to severe restrictions. Similar restrictions have also been applied to Mehdi Karroubi, another leader of the 2009 protests, although he has recently been able to meet with some political figures in addition to his family members. The lifting of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi was one of the main demands during the 2013 and 2017 presidential elections, which were raised at the campaign rallies of Hassan Rouhani, who also made promises, explicitly or implicitly, regarding the lifting of the house arrest, at one point conditioning it on receiving a high vote in the elections. Now, on the verge of the seventh anniversary of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, Khabar Online reported that security agents have informed the daughters of Mr. Mousavi and Mrs. Rahnavard that they can now meet with their parents without a weekly schedule. According to Khabar Online, until two months ago, Mr. Mousavi and Mrs. Rahnavard's daughters could only meet them once a week, but this has increased to twice a week in the last two months. Khabar Online also reports that recently, Mir Hossein Mousavi's sisters have been able to visit him at his place of house arrest with their husbands, and Zahra Rahnavard's presence at her sick mother's bedside allowed her to meet with her brother and some close family members. This website close to the Mousavi family also quoted Mr. Mousavi's daughters as saying that while they welcome the opportunity to spend more time with their parents, they are still deprived of phone contact and continuous communication with them, and Mir Hossein and Rahnavard remain confined at their home with no possibility of free communication, movement, or meetings with others. The announcement of the easing of the restrictions on Mr. Mousavi, Mrs. Rahnavard, and their daughters comes at a time when news sources in Iran reported on Saturday, citing Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president of Hassan Rouhani, that 'the era of house arrest is over' and 'no one and no group that has been with the regime can be under house arrest.' However, hours later, many news sources corrected their reports, changing the term 'house arrest' to 'removal.' Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi played a key role in keeping the protests alive during the 18 months following the announcement of the results of the 2009 presidential election, issuing several statements, despite facing bloody repression from the Iranian government. However, during the recent nationwide protests in Iran, the demand for lifting the house arrest of the movement's leaders was not seen among the protesters' slogans, and only in a few instances did protesters refer to the freedom of political prisoners.