Zahra Rahnavard's Mother Passes Away; Mousavi and Rahnavard Temporarily Released from House Arrest

Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard were present next to the body of Rahmat al-Sadat Nobaveh Safavi, Zahra Rahnavard's mother, accompanied by security personnel. According to the website 'Kalemeh', Mrs. Nobaveh Safavi passed away on Tuesday, February 19, at the age of 93 due to illness. In recent years, she had been 'deprived of regular visits with her daughter Zahra Rahnavard'. 'Kalemeh' reported that Mir Hossein Mousavi was returned to 'house arrest' after less than 15 minutes. According to this report, Zahra Rahnavard was also 'transferred to Akhtar Prison' a few hours earlier. Ayatollah Yousef Sanei, one of the Shia clerics, issued a message expressing condolences to the Rahnavard and Mousavi families on the passing of Nobaveh Safavi. In his message, Mr. Sanei stated that 'the reward and compensation for the patience and endurance of the late noble woman in being deprived of seeing her loved ones — which is a fundamental human and Islamic right according to the principle of maintaining family ties — is beyond the capacity of the Almighty'. Ayatollah Asadollah Bayat Zanjani, another cleric, also expressed condolences to one of Mir Hossein and Rahnavard's daughters over the phone. The family of Mehdi Karroubi also wrote in their condolence message to Mousavi and Rahnavard that 'unfortunately, that dear mother was deprived of this fundamental right due to the unjust and illegal imprisonment and house arrest in these years when she needed your emotional and physical presence more than ever'. The office of Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri also sent a message of condolence to Zahra Rahnavard regarding her mother's death. The house arrest of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard has entered its eighth year, and efforts to lift their house arrest along with Mehdi Karroubi have so far been unsuccessful. However, Ali Motahari, the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, announced on February 17 that he had received a 'promise' from the judicial and security officials of the Islamic Republic that the house arrest of the leaders of the Green Movement would be lifted by the end of this year. According to Mr. Motahari, a conservative representative, if this 'promise' is not fulfilled, 'we will start our protests'. Heather Nauert, the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, on February 16, at the end of the seventh anniversary of the house arrest of Rahnavard, Mousavi, and Karroubi, issued a statement calling for their freedom and that of all political prisoners who are 'unjustly' imprisoned. The spokesperson stated that 'we, along with the international community, condemn the continued house arrest of these three individuals without charges or a fair trial'. Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, leaders of the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential election, have been under house arrest without trial since February 2011.