GVF — “Using tall iron walls, they are turning the house of Mousavi and Rahnavard into a prison.” According to the official website of Green Movement Mir Hossein Mousavi Kaleme.com, this is how “employees of the Office of the President as well as doctors and patients at the [nearby] Shahid Shourideh Hospital who were close to the Akhtari alley” are describing the latest developments outside the residence of the former prime minister.
“A group of honourable employees at the Office of the President have contacted Kaleme and informed us that at the moment, [security] agents are briskly erecting a tall metallic wall at the entrance of Mousavi’s home.”
After Monday’s pro-opposition protests held in solidarity with the recent revolts of the Arab world, on Friday and during prayers, Ahmad Jannati, the Chairman of the Guardian Council called for a complete isolation of the leaders of the Green Movement and an all-out house arrest to be enforced against Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi. “The leaders of the sedition must be placed under house arrest and their telephone [lines] and internet [connection] must be blocked,” he said. “What the judiciary can do—which I believe it is contemplating to do—is to completely sever their ties with the Iranian people, so that they can’t issue statements [to the Iranian people].”
Since the summer of 2010 and the attacks by state-sponsored thugs on the home of Karroubi, authorities have stepped up the limitations on the opposition leaders’ movements while at the same time intimidating those wishing to make contact with the men.
Six months ago, the restrictions against Mousavi and his wife entered a new phase when a van with security agents on board was stationed outside Mousavi’s office. Since then, various groups of people including activists, journalists and politicians were prevented from meeting with Mousavi and Rahnavard, while others were interrogated or detained for hours before being conditionally released.
Following the huge turn-out during Green Movement protests on 14 February, Mousavi and Rahnavard were placed under full house arrest. Since the 16th of February and the dismissal of all his bodyguards, there’s been absolutely no news on the couple’s state of well-being. At the moment, not even Mousavi’s closest relatives—his daughters included—can get near their family home.
In his most recent interview with Kaleme, Mousavi’s senior advisor Ardeshir Amir-Arjomand said that “Mr Mousavi and Rahnavard’s food is currently being provided by the security forces and we are very concerned about this … I stress again that the regime’s forces are responsible for their safety.”
