The Supreme Leader Against the 'Awakened Conscience'; Continued House Arrest

"As long as the world exists, there will be free souls who will bow their heads against the violation of human freedom; noble consciences and souls that firmly say 'no' to any violation of human conscience." This is part of the preface of the important and readable book "Awakened Conscience," which Mir Hossein Mousavi recommended to his children from within house arrest five years ago. The book tells the story of one of the free thinkers who stood against tyranny and oppression in the sixteenth century, challenging the dominance of religion over the people. "Awakened Conscience" describes the perilous journey of Sebastian Castellio, an idealist who stood against the tyranny of John Calvin and the Protestant Church of Geneva. Castellio rises in defense of freedom of thought and speaks of the necessity of tolerance despite all dangers and persecutions during the established monopolies. Regardless of the valuable research of Stefan Zweig, the author of the book, Mousavi's meaningful recommendation to study this book is noteworthy; as it addresses one of the dark periods in world history and documents the effects and characteristics of religious tyranny in front of the reader's eyes. The government's official "kidnapping" has stretched for six years, during which not only have Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard not retreated from their claims about the controversial and ambiguous 2009 elections, but Karroubi also asked Hassan Rouhani in a letter last April to request the "tyrannical regime" to hold his public trial according to Article 168 of the Constitution. However, this is not the only book that Mousavi has suggested reading from within house arrest; "A Report on a Kidnapping" by Gabriel García Márquez, Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh's defense in the military court after the August 28 coup, and also Mossadegh's letters from his exile in Ahmadabad are among Mousavi's other recommendations. Mousavi's suggestions are important books; historical documents of the suffering and oppression imposed on intellectuals by oppressors, tyrants, and authoritarian regimes. The hostages in Márquez's book endure hard and tedious days filled with painful anticipation, various limitations, and anxiety. They grapple with the question, "When will this period of captivity end?" A situation that similarly affected Dr. Mossadegh in his exile in Ahmadabad until his death. In one of his letters from house arrest in the fall of 1960, Mossadegh writes: "Loneliness passes very badly. My situation is hard, and I have no contact with anyone other than my children. They visit me every 15 days and leave." The ousted Prime Minister also emphasized in a letter in the spring of 1962 that "the more I express the hardships of my life, the less I have said." In another letter, in the summer of 1965, Mossadegh writes: "I have not been able to leave this fortress for about 10 years. I live in one room, and sometimes I do not speak a few words a day. This is the condition of people who have beliefs and do not submit to the whims of others." These unfortunate conditions have gripped the leaders of the Green Movement for the past six years, and Mousavi indirectly explains them by referring to Mossadegh. Resistance Against Tyranny and Violence Mousavi's suggested books, while describing the pain and suffering imposed on intellectuals and thinkers, simultaneously depict the resistance against illegal violence, religious tyranny, and despotism in a concrete and tangible manner. As emphasized in part of Márquez's book (A Report on a Kidnapping): "The joy of love is not made to lull you to sleep with its lullaby, but to continue fighting." In Mossadegh's memoirs and the proceedings of his trial in the military court, the ousted Prime Minister emphasizes: "If the Shah can declare war whenever he wants and make peace whenever he wants, then what is the role of the people? What is the role of the parliament?" Mossadegh also declares in court: "I have no fear or apprehension of anyone; even today, while I am in your prison and under the hand of a soldier, I have the courage, by the grace of God, to say that I am the legal Prime Minister of Iran." By referring to Mossadegh's resistance against the August 28 coup and the vitality of the kidnapped hostages or the courage and freedom of Castellio against the tyrant Calvin, Mousavi exposes his position, along with Karroubi and Rahnavard, against the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and the overt oppression. Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard standing alongside millions of protesters against the 2009 electoral coup, and their disregard for the Supreme Leader's assessment of the legitimacy of that election, was sufficiently disturbing and unpleasant for the top of the political system. Mossadegh states in the military court: "Wherever there is a right involved, I will give up everything; I have no wife, no son, no daughter; I have nothing but my homeland." Mousavi, Rahnavard, and Karroubi have also clearly defined their position against the imposed oppression, not only before their house arrest but also in messages sent from detention. As Zahra Rahnavard has emphasized from within house arrest, conditions for salvation require perseverance and "saying no" to power and not submitting to the servitude of anyone but God. Rahnavard had also announced a few weeks before the house arrest that "we all go to meet prison." The beginning of the house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement after their call for a rally on February 14, 2011, could not have happened without the permission and opinion of the first person in the system. The unlawful imprisonment that has stretched for six years until today. The uprising of protesters in Tunisia and Egypt was accompanied by the solidarity of the leaders of the Green Movement and their call for a rally on February 14, 2011, an event that was significant a year and a half after the emergence of the protest movement in Iran. Despite the violent and bloody suppression, once again hundreds of thousands of citizens took to the streets in Tehran and some major cities across the country. In the face of the emergence of the Green Movement, the central power of the Islamic Republic, fearful of the lack of democratic backing, saw no option but to arrest the leaders of the protest movement. The official "kidnapping" of the government has stretched for six years, during which not only have Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard not retreated from their claims about the controversial and ambiguous 2009 elections, but Karroubi also asked Hassan Rouhani in a letter last April to request the "tyrannical regime" to hold his public trial according to Article 168 of the Constitution. Karroubi wrote in his open letter that in this trial he would present his evidence regarding the election fraud of 2005, the engineering of the 2009 presidential election, and what happened to the children of this country in legal and illegal detention centers. Predictably, the judiciary of the Islamic Republic has shown a lack of courage and integrity necessary for holding such a trial. Thus, the illegal house arrest continues for six years. Nevertheless, as mentioned in one of the books suggested by Mousavi (Awakened Conscience), although history is a cold chronicle of victories and is indifferent to moral evaluations, every effort made out of pure faith, and every force that draws from human ethics, is not wasted or destroyed in the world. The defeat of those whose ideals transcend time and space is not a defeat. Although the house arrest and unlawful detention of Mousavi, Karroubi, and Rahnavard have entered their seventh year, they stand like the "Awakened Conscience" for today's Iran and play a role in the campaign for democratization.