Iran: Opposition Leaders Allowed Visit With Children
Children of Iranian opposition leaders, MirHosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard, reported that they were finally allowed to visit their parents on Tuesday, 22 days after the opposition leaders were put under strict house arrest.
In a letter published today on Kaleme website the Mousavi family writes that on March 8, one of the daughters of the opposition leaders along with Rahnavard’s sister and Mousavi’s brother were summoned by security officials.
The letter indicates that the authorities tell them that only the three of them will be allowed to visit MirHosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard to which they protest insisting that all the three daughters want to see their parents.
“After making us promise not to discuss political issues, we were taken to a house on Pasteur Street and after walking through the yard which was filled with security forces and a van with dark windows, we entered the only room of this house,” the Mousavi children write in their letter; “We embraced our mother and father who were obviously surprised by the visit.”
The letter thus reveals that the couple are not being held in their own home but in another house on Pasteur Street in the own neighbourhood.
The children were also informed that their parents’ home was raided and various documents pertaining to the period of MirHosein Mousavi’s years as prime minister and series of CDs containing years of work and research by Zahra Rahnavard were confiscated.
The Mousavi children go on to add that the visit has assured them that their parents “firmly stand by their covenant with the people with greater severity than before.”
The letter indicates that the security forces have told the Mousavi daughters to remain silent regarding the visit but after some days, the Mousavis have decided to publish the news of the visit.
They conclude the letter indicating that they will continue to report new developments to the people through Kaleme website as their father did before being put under house arrest.
Iranian opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were put under house arrest along with their respective wives and cut off from the outside world after they rallied their supporters to march in support of the recent Arab uprisings.
In the past weeks some reports were published by the opposition indicating that the two couples had been moved to a prison.
Iranian authorities have continuously denied these reports insisting that they were still at their own homes but no longer allowed to communicate with the public.
The opposition maintains that since the opposition leaders have not been officially charged or sentenced by a legitimate court, their house arrest and all the restrictions they are under are in violation of their citizens’ rights.
