Two MPs Request Rouhani to Lift House Arrest of Mousavi, Rahnavard, and Karroubi

Masoud Pezeshkian, the first deputy speaker of the parliament, and Elias Hazrati, a member of parliament and head of the executive council of the National Trust Party, have asked Hassan Rouhani to fulfill his promise to lift the house arrest of the leaders of the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, in his capacity as the head of the Supreme National Security Council. According to ISNA news agency, Pezeshkian on Tuesday, April 2, referred to promises he had heard from the Iranian president regarding the house arrest, urging him to act on those promises. The first deputy speaker added, "We expect that with the coordination made at high levels, this knot, meaning the house arrest, will be opened." He also stated that "with the existence of blind knots like imprisonment, house arrest, and similar issues, national cohesion will not return," adding, "If this issue is not resolved, the problems of society will become more complicated." Pezeshkian called for the resolution of the house arrest issue in any way that, according to him, "the elders deem appropriate," indicating that "it is in the interest of the country that this knot is opened, and if we act wisely in this regard, internal cohesion will also increase." Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard, leaders of the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, have been under house arrest since February 2011. Previously, officials in Hassan Rouhani's government had repeatedly promised that they would pursue the lifting of the house arrest, but this issue, which was one of Rouhani's electoral slogans five years ago, has remained unresolved. In this context, the families of Mousavi and Karroubi and several political activists have repeatedly criticized the Rouhani government for not taking practical action to lift the house arrest. However, in recent months, changes have occurred regarding the house arrest, and in addition to several political activists successfully having individual meetings with Mehdi Karroubi, the restrictions on the scheduling of visits between Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard with their daughters have also been lifted. Elias Hazrati, a member of parliament and a member of the National Trust Party led by Mehdi Karroubi, also on Monday, April 1, announced that the decision-making regarding the house arrest has been delegated to the Supreme National Security Council with the permission of high-ranking officials of the country, and called on Hassan Rouhani as the head of the Supreme National Security Council to hold an extraordinary meeting of this council to fulfill its legal duty regarding the lifting of the house arrest of Karroubi, Mousavi, and Rahnavard. According to ISNA, Hazrati also requested that Hassan Rouhani take a more prominent role regarding the house arrest, which he described as "one of the most important current issues in Iran," and to make a historic decision in line with "the implementation of the Constitution and the provision of national security." He noted that in 2009, the year of the presidential election and the protests against its results, "many institutions and pillars of the government, as well as forces, parties, and political groups, are to blame" for the events that occurred, stating, "It is simplistic if we want to lighten our burden by blaming one or two prominent figures in the country or attributing the whole affair to foreign designs, making the analysis of those events simple and easy." This member of parliament also stated that "the official analysis of the ruling power" does not correspond to the reality of events, is not accepted by the majority of society, and cannot provide a way to solve the issues that have arisen. The requests of Pezeshkian and Hazrati come at a time when Eshaq Jahangiri, the first vice president of Iran, on March 18, announced that the secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council had made "good efforts" to lift the house arrest of the leaders of the protests against the 2009 election results, expressing hope that this would happen in 2018. According to ILNA news agency, he stated, "Some believed that the decision to lift the house arrest would be finalized by the end of 2017, but nothing happened; however, God willing, this important matter will also happen next year." Meanwhile, Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dashti Ghaib, a Shia cleric, on April 22 stated that based on the promises of officials, he had expected the house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement to be lifted during the Nowruz holidays. Ali Motahari, the deputy speaker of parliament, on March 16 stated that "senior security and intelligence officials" had promised that the house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, and Zahra Rahnavard would be lifted by the end of the year, but they did not fulfill this promise, and he is not hopeful that the house arrest will be lifted by the end of 2017. However, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesman for the judiciary, in response to these statements said that the Supreme National Security Council has not made any changes in its "resolution" regarding the house arrest of the leaders of the 2009 protests, but if this council's resolution changes, they will be tried.