The U.S. Department of State has called on Iranian authorities to end the house arrest of MirHosein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard and Mehdi Karroubi, who have lived under such conditions since February 2011.
In a statement the State Department says: "Three years ago today, the Iranian Government put former presidential candidates and opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and his wife, women’s rights advocate Zahra Rahnavard, under house arrest without formally charging them with any crimes. We join the international community in condemning their continued imprisonment and the harassment of their family members, and in calling for their immediate release."
Amnesty International has expressed grave concern regarding the treatment of these figures and has called for an immediate end to their “arbitrary detention.”
The statement from the U.S. Department of State remind IRanian authorties that "Iran’s constitution, its laws, and its international obligations guarantee its citizens minimum fair trial guarantees and provide that no one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention. "
The Iranian government has cut off these opposition figures from the outside world, and the judiciary has said on several occasions that it is not in the interest of the system to give them a public trial.
