The House Arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard Reaches 5000 Days

Narges Mousavi, daughter of Mir Hossein Mousavi, one of the leaders of the protests against the 2009 election results, and Zahra Rahnavard, wrote on her Instagram post on Thursday, October 25, that "the oppressive house arrest of Zahra Rahnavard, Mehdi Karroubi, and Mir Hossein Mousavi has reached 5000 days." In this Instagram post, it was emphasized that "even 5 hours of this house arrest has been extremely hard and heavy in this utter injustice and lawlessness and complete separation from society." Ms. Mousavi criticized the transformation of her parental home into a "security prison" and added, "The dilapidated Akhtar house has been devoid of its original identity, which is personal privacy and residence, for nearly 14 years and has turned into a security prison, away from oversight." She described the conditions prevailing in her parents' home: "The doors are still locked by the jailers, the guards change, and occasional unexplained events are the only excitement in that space." Narges Mousavi also wrote: "The rooftop is under the control of agents, and surveillance cameras and eavesdropping and jamming are in place." Additionally, reports have emerged about the deteriorating health conditions of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard. According to her, her parents have no rights or options to make decisions for themselves in various circumstances without external interference and to reside in a safer place. The daughter of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard emphasized that despite all these conditions, they have remained loyal to their promise to be with the people and have not compromised on the rights of the people. Following the controversial presidential election in Iran in 2009, widespread protests were held in several cities of Iran with the slogan "Where is my vote?" and protesters emphasized the occurrence of "widespread fraud" in this election, which was accompanied by the announcement of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory. These widespread protests were met with violent repression by the government. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi have been under house arrest since 2010. Narges Mousavi's post came after Asadollah Badamchian, the Secretary-General of the Islamic Coalition Party, stated in an interview with Khabar Online that Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi "have not been under house arrest for a long time." Badamchian said: "They go and see them, they do everything." These remarks were met with a response from Hossein Karroubi, Mehdi Karroubi's son, who deemed the end of his father's house arrest as "false." According to Khabar Online, he said: "No end to the house arrest has taken place, and the house arrest continues for both Engineer Mousavi and Mr. Karroubi." The response from Karroubi's son to the renewed claim of "lifting the house arrest": the house arrest continues, and the conditions have also become harsher. Zahra Rahnavard stated that a "national unity cabinet" must entail the recognition of equal rights for all citizens of Iran. Mehdi Karroubi conditioned the lifting of the house arrest agreed upon by Pezeshkian and Ejei to the lifting of Mir Hossein Mousavi's house arrest. Zahra Mousavi, daughter of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, was expelled from university. Zahra Rahnavard described mandatory hijab in Iran as a "dictatorial order" and "made-up." Zahra Rahnavard stated: "The answer to women's quest for freedom is not bullets."