An Iranian reformist group has warned the Green Movement “not to fall prey to radicalism and the violence that the extremist government autocrats are after.”
“Extremism is a trap laid by government extremists in order to justify further suppression of people to their own forces,” says a statement on Norooz website from the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution, one of Iran’s top reformist parties, which has been outlawed in the past year of protest.
The reformist group warns the state that the house arrest of opposition leaders, MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, along with the proliferation of arrests and oppression will not solve the country’s problems and will only make the situation more “critical.”
Mousavi and Karroubi have been under strict house arrest since they called for a February 14 rally in support of Arab uprisings, which led to renewed street protests across the country.
The government has also stepped up the arrest of political and student activists in the past week and subjected the families of the two opposition leaders to harsh measures.
“The extremists in the government are missing the last chance to solve the problems of the country in the framework of the constitution and national interests,” said the Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution.
Iranian opposition leaders have repeatedly denied that their protests are seditious. Mousavi and Karroubi, along with reformists groups, have consistently maintained that the protesters’ demands can be resolved by once again following the provisions of the constitution within the framework of the system.
“To ensure their own survival, the autocrats are willing to destroy the whole country and all the achievements of the people in the Islamic Revolution,” says Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution.
The reformist group urges all political figures, clergy and the Islamic Republic elite who are concerned for the people and the country to save the nation “from the talons of ruling extremists and stop them from oppressing the protesting citizens.”