Saeed Kamali Dehghan - Iran opposition leader begins hunger strike to demand public trial
An ailing 79-year-old
Iranian opposition leader who has been under house arrest since
February 2011 has embarked on a hunger strike, demanding authorities
try him in public. Mehdi Karroubi, a former presidential candidate, fell
foul of the establishment following the disputed re-election of Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad in 2009, which led to months of unrest. A leader of the Green
movement, he was put under round-the-clock surveillance by guards living in his
home six years ago, without being put on trial or publicly charged. He has been
taken to hospital twice in the last three weeks and has undergone heart
surgery.
Saham News, a website
close to Karroubi, quoted his wife as saying that he started the dry hunger
strike soon after performing his morning prayers on Wednesday, and that he will
refuse to eat or drink until his demands are met. “He wants the security
guards to leave the premises of his house,” she said. Never before – pre-Islamic
revolution nor after it – we have seen such presence of guards, living inside
the house alongside those under house arrest, keeping all aspects of his life
under watch, through bugs and cameras. “If the house arrest is to continue, he
wants to be put on trial in public, after six and a half years under house
arrest, he wants the authorities to announce when they will hold a trial in
public.”
Two other opposition
leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi, also a former presidential candidate, and his
wife, Zahra Rahnavard, were put under house arrest in Tehran in similar
circumstances in 2011. Both Karroubi and Mousavi are suffering from
medical complications partly as a result of their age. Mousavi, 75, has also
been taken to hospital a number of times in recent years. Some members of the
three leaders’ immediate families are allowed to visit them in pre-arranged and
approved meetings.
“My father wants a trial that is held in
public and in the presence of a jury as provisioned by article 168 of the
constitution,” Karroubi’s son, Mohammad-Taghi Karroubi, said. “The
establishment wants a quiet end to the house arrests, without paying a price.
My father has said that he will not challenge the verdict of a trial, he hasn’t
had a chance to defend himself and he wants to respond to the accusations made
by the state.” He said he had spoken to his father by phone recently when he
was discharged from hospital. It was the first time in six months the two had
been allowed to talk. “My father is on the verge of becoming 80 and a dry
hunger strike, which given his health complications raises serious concerns.” The continued
restrictions on opposition leaders is a major challenge for the moderate
president, Hassan Rouhani, and popular
demand for an end to the house arrests is high. Almost every rally Rouhani
held during the campaign that led to his re-election in May featured chants by
supporters in support of Karroubi, Mousavi and Rahnavard. .. read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/17/iran-opposition-leader-begins-hunger-strike-to-demand-public-trial