The children of Iranian opposition leaders MirHosein Mousavi and Zahra Rahnavard have announced that for the past two months they have had no news of their parents, who have been under house arrest for close to two years.
The Mousavi children call for an end to the “illegal incarceration” of their parents and demand that authorities be accountable for their health and well-being.
Mousavi and Rahnavard were put under house arrest in February of 2011 following demonstrations triggered by Mousavi and his fellow reformist candidate, Mehdi Karroubi.
Mehdi Karroubi is also under house arrest, completely cut off from the public and allowed only rare visits with his family.
The Mousavi children say in their letter, published on a number of opposition websites, that the restrictions imposed on Mousavi and Rahnavard make their situation akin to a “kidnapping.”
The letter indicates that in the past two months they have not even had telephone contact with their parents and are, therefore, fearful for their health.
They write: “In our last visit, the health of our parents appeared precarious, and in view of the repeated crises created by their guards and the rough and chaotic air of our last meetings with them, especially the last one, after which we were completely cut off from them, and in view of our father’s blood pressure and heart complications, we are very concerned for their health.”
Last month, the Mousavi children issued a joint statement with the Karroubi children calling for the release of their parents.
The Islamic Republic authorities have held the opposition leaders under house arrest without laying any formal charged, and recently the head of Iran’s security forces announced that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is directly responsible for the opposition leaders’ situation and has refused to allow for any formal charges to be laid against them.
