Prominent reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, who was jailed along with his wife in the crackdown on reformists following the controversial 2009 elections, says both their judicial cases are being directly handled by Mojtaba Khamenei, the brother of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
“All the pressure forced upon me and my family is the direct will of Mojtaba Khameni,” Tajzadeh says in a report on Norooz website, the news source of the Islamic Iran Participation Front. He added that the judiciary is not involved in processing their cases.
Mostafa Tajzadeh, a senior member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), was arrested in the June of 2009 after the reformists challenged the victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with allegations of vote fraud. He was sentenced to six years in prison and a 10-year ban from political and media activities.
Fakhrosadat Mohtashamipour, Tajzadeh’s wife, was the head of the women’s branch of the IIPF. She was arrested in March of 2010, charged with participation in protests and sentenced to four years in jail. Her sentence has been suspended for five years.
Norooz reports that Mohtashamipour was arrested based on a report from the Revolutionary Guards and the Ministry of Intelligence.
She was charged with “organizing families of prisoners, creating disturbances, attending gathering of women reformists and families of political prisoners, rallying the public to join illegal gatherings to end the house arrest of the leaders of sedition [Iranian authorities refer to opposition leaders as leaders of sedition], referring to the officials of the Islamic Republic regime as dictator and oppressor and presenting disturbers as the oppressed.”
The sentence emphasizes that Mohtashamipour shows “no signs of remorse or regret for her actions;” however, “Islamic mercy is considered for the specific situation in which she has committed these crimes (namely the conviction of her husband) and given the fact that she has committed these acts moved by marital emotions and feelings, the court will suspend her imprisonment term for five years.”
After the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, hundreds of political and civil activists were arrested and given stiff sentences. More than two and a half years after the events, the protests still continue as do arrests and persecutions.
