Son of Karroubi Sentenced to Prison for Publishing His Father's Letter Amid Ministry of Intelligence Complaint

The lawyer of Hossein Karroubi, son of Mehdi Karroubi, announced that his client has been sentenced to six months in prison for publishing his father's letter to the President of Iran, accused of 'propaganda against the regime' by Branch 28 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court. According to the Jamaran website, on Tuesday, March 13, Mohammad Jalilian stated that after the publication of Mehdi Karroubi's letter to Hassan Rouhani, 'a report was submitted by security officials to the prosecutor's office located in Evin,' accusing Hossein Karroubi of removing this letter from his father's place of house arrest. Jalilian mentioned that Hossein Karroubi stated during interrogation that the publication of the letter was not related to him and that the author of the letter is Mehdi Karroubi himself. Despite this, the investigator and prosecutor considered the publication of the letter as 'an example of the crime of propaganda against the regime,' and ultimately, Branch 28 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad Moghayeseh, sentenced Hossein Karroubi to six months in prison for 'publishing the letter in cyberspace' on the charge of 'propaganda against the regime.' This ruling was communicated to Hossein Karroubi on March 13, and his lawyer has appealed the decision, which will be reviewed again in the appeals court. The Saham News website reported that the indictment against Hossein Karroubi was issued at the request of the 'Ministry of Intelligence.' Taghi Karroubi, another son of Mehdi Karroubi, confirmed the news of his brother's prison sentence in an interview with Radio Farda, stating that his complainant was the Ministry of Intelligence of Hassan Rouhani's government. He told Radio Farda: 'The government of Hassan Rouhani, which was the addressee of this letter, not only did not respond to it but the Ministry of Intelligence of the 'moderate government' was looking to fabricate a case regarding this issue and prepared a 'very very harsh' indictment.' However, Hossein Karroubi had previously stated in an interview with Saham News in October that the complaint from the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in September was the reason for the formation of his case, mentioning that after four sessions of interrogation, he faced charges of 'actions against national security.' Mehdi Karroubi, in a letter to the President of Iran published on April 10, emphasized that he does not consider the lifting of his house arrest to be 'in his control' and requested Hassan Rouhani to ask the 'tyrannical regime' to try him in a 'public court.' Hossein Karroubi has been detained and interrogated several times for a few hours after the protests against the 2009 presidential election and his father's house arrest. He had previously been sentenced to six months in prison for an interview with Persian-language media outside the country regarding his father's letter to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani about 'torture and rape in the prisons of the Islamic Republic' concerning those detained during the events of 2009, a sentence that has not been executed. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, protesters against the results of the 2009 presidential election, have been under house arrest without trial since February 2011. Mehdi Karroubi was transferred from three years of 'house arrest' in a 'safe house' of the Ministry of Intelligence to his home in Jamaran in February 2014 but remains under house arrest. Fatemeh Karroubi, Mehdi Karroubi's wife, recently wrote a letter to the Minister of Intelligence, protesting the 'deliberate irresponsibility' of that ministry regarding her husband's life, stating that security agents are not allowed to contact emergency services during an incident involving Mr. Karroubi and must only contact the Ministry of Intelligence hospital. In this letter, published on March 9 on the 'Kaleme' website, she also reported that Ministry of Intelligence forces 'still have a presence in our residential home contrary to the term house arrest, and the most basic household affairs are still under their control.' Recently, thousands, including several political, social, and civil activists in Iran, have called for an end to the house arrest of these three individuals in an open letter addressed to the heads of the three branches of government, members of parliament, and other officials, coinciding with the sixth anniversary of their house arrest. Ali Mohammad Dashtgheib, a religious authority residing in Shiraz, has also advised Iranian reformists to demand the lifting of the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard from Hassan Rouhani, the President, and also from religious authorities.