The daughters of Iranian opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have been threatened with arrest by Islamic Republic security forces, the Kaleme Website reports.
According to the opposition website, in addition to threats of arrest, one of the daughter has been banned from her teaching position at Al-Zahra University.
Mousavi and Rahnavard have been under house arrest since last February, when, together with opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi, they rallied Iranians to march in solidarity with recent Arab uprisings.
The Mousavi and Karroubi children issued a letter two days ago, urging all their compatriots and “freedom lovers of the world” to strive for the release of their parents and all other Iranian political prisoners.
They added that the opposition leaders have been deprived of all of their rights, even as prisoners, adding that “aside from a handful of telephone calls and limited and highly controlled visits, they are completely cut off from the outside world.”
Activists and rights group inside and outside of Iran have been calling for the release of the opposition leaders; most recently, 39 political prisoners issued a letter echoing this demand.
Kaleme reports that in addition to detaining supporters of the Green Movement, the protest movement that disputed the outcome of the 2009 presidential elections, the authorities have also repeatedly subjected the families of the detainees to pressure and various forms of persecution.
“Detaining family members, subjecting them to repeated interrogations, interfering with their family ceremonies and their day-to-day lives, threats to their lives, jobs or banning them from travel abroad” are among the pressures constantly faced by the families of political prisoners, according to Kaleme.
The Coordination Council for the Green Path of Hope has issued a rally call inviting Iranians to join a silent demonstration in Tehran and other major cities to mark the anniversary of the arrest of Mousavi, Rahnavard and Karroubi.
