Top reformist figure Mohammadreza Khatami said the first and foremost demand of the “millions of reformists” that went to the polls yesterday is the release of MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard.
The three opposition leaders have been under house arrest since February 2011. Mousavi and Karroubi, presidential candidates in the 2009 election, challenged the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory and triggered widespread mass protests.
Mohammadreza Khatami, former head of the reformist party Islamic Iran Participation Front, wrote in a statement on Norooz website: “Now that a national celebration is underway, our first request is the release of MirHosein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Zahra Rahnavard and all the political prisoners that we believe to be innocent.”
It goes on to add that this is the request of the millions of reformists that responded to the Supreme Leader’s rally to participate in the elections, and now they in turn want the leader to respond positively to their request.
Ayatollah Khamenei had called on all Iranians, even those who did not agree with the system, to participate in the elections in a show of solidarity for the country against foreign threats.
The reformists’ candidate, Hassan Rohani, is in a decisive lead in the vote count, and the Interior Ministry reported that the vote turnout was higher than in any other year.
