Fatemeh Karroubi has appealed to the Iranian president to clarify the legal basis for the incarceration of her husband, Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist candidate who challenged the authenticity of the vote count in the 2009 presidential election.
In a letter addressed to Hassan Rohani on October 19, Fatemeh Karroubi writes that the troubles her family has endured in recent years have been far more burdensome that what they suffered during 15 years of struggle against the previous monarchist regime.
Fatemeh Karroubi was put under house arrest with her husband in February of 2011 but was later released. Her husband remains under house arrest, for a total of more than 1000 days, without being formally charged with any offence.
Similarly, the other challenger of the 2009 election outcome, MirHosein Mousavi, has remained under house arrest along his wife, Zahra Rahnavard, since 2011.
There has been much speculation that with the new administration in power, and people’s persistent support for the moderate forces in the country, the opposition leaders would finally be released. Although a number of political prisoners have been released, these leaders still remain under arrest without any clear indication of whether their release is in the cards.
Despite efforts from the new administration, many hardline forces still resist the release of these opposition leaders, whom they have dubbed leaders of “sedition” because of the widespread peaceful protests that their support triggered all across the country.
