The Way to Lift the House Arrest of Three Leaders of the 2009 Protests

The latest statements regarding the house arrest or confinement of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard – the leaders of the protests in 2009 against the announced results of that year's presidential election – were made last Monday by Mojtaba Zolnour, a principlist member of parliament. A member of the Stability Front in the parliament stated that as long as those under house arrest do not apologize, no expectations can be had from the regime. One day prior, Hesamoddin Ashna, cultural advisor to President Hassan Rouhani, stated that the house arrest has not been completely lifted, but the conditions of the house arrest have changed. According to him, what the government and the president, as the head of the Supreme National Security Council, needed to do has been done, and after 'some facilitation and openings,' only 'a shell' remains until the lifting of the house arrest. What do these statements indicate about the likelihood of the continuation or end of the house arrest of the three leaders of the 2009 protests (known as the 'Green Movement')? What are the supporters of lifting the house arrest doing? Political observers attribute part of the diminished activities of the supporters of lifting the house arrest in Iran to restrictions and crackdowns. (Although with these same restrictions, some managed to chant 'Reza Shah, may your soul rest in peace' last year). But why is the activity of supporters of lifting the house arrest outside of Iran and on other social media platforms not as prominent as before? Four guests in this week's program responded to these questions: Mohammad Sadegh Javadi-Hesar, advisor to Mehdi Karroubi (Mashhad), Ardshir Amir Arjamand, advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi (Paris), Ahmad Montazeri, son of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri (Qom), and Hassan Shariati, son of Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem Shariati and political activist opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran (Hamburg). We invite you to listen to this roundtable and debate, which includes a dispute over the government's actions in eliminating and confining and executing dissenters in the first decade of the revolution between Mr. Shariati on one side and Mr. Amir Arjamand, Javadi-Hesar, and Montazeri on the other.