The Rohani administration says it has made every effort to secure the release of MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi from house arrest; however, it has not been successful because the administration is not the final decision-maker in this regard.
As the fifth anniversary of their house arrest approaches, Iranian media report that the spokesman for the administration, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, responded on Tuesday January 26 to a question about their situation.
“We made all the efforts we could and in some cases even went beyond our jurisdiction,” Nobakht said, emphasizing that the executive branch does not have the final word on the situation.
Fatemeh Karroubi, the wife of Mehdi Karroubi, has criticized the Rohani government for its failure to take effective steps to end the house arrests.
Since the opposition figures were put under house arrest for making allegations of fraud in the 2009 elections and triggering widespread protests, there have been conflicting statements as to which entity is responsible for making decisions about their fate. The three were put under house arrest without any formal charges being laid against them.
It has been said that the final word for their release can only come from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, who has been quoted as saying implicitly that the regime has in effect treated Mousavi and Karroubi with leniency.
